SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S

by Bret Harte

SNOW-BOUND AT EAGLE'S

CHAPTER I

For some moments profound silence and darkness had accompanied a Sierranstage-coach towards the summit. The huge, dim bulk of the vehicle, swaying noiselessly on its straps, glided onward and upward as ifobeying some mysterious impulse from behind, so faint and indefiniteappeared its relation to the viewless and silent horses ahead. Theshadowy trunks of tall trees that seemed to approach the coach windows, look in, and then move hurriedly away, were the only distinguishableobjects. Yet even these were so vague and unreal that they might havebeen the mere phantoms of some dream of the half-sleeping passengers;for the thickly-strewn needles of the pine, that choked the way anddeadened all sound, yielded under the silently-crushing wheels a faintsoporific odor that seemed to benumb their senses, already slipping backinto unconsciousness during the long ascent. Suddenly the stage stopped. 

Three of the four passengers inside struggled at once into uprightwakefulness. The fourth passenger, John Hale, had not been sleeping, andturned impatiently towards the window. It seemed to him that two of themoving trees had suddenly become motionless outside. One of them movedagain, and the door opened quickly but quietly, as of itself. 

"Git down, " said a voice in the darkness. 

All the passengers except Hale started. The man next to him moved hisright hand suddenly behind him, but as quickly stopped. One of themotionless trees had apparently closed upon the vehicle, and what hadseemed to be a bough projecting from it at right angles changed slowlyinto the faintly shining double-barrels of a gun at the window. 

"Drop that!" said the voice. 

The man who had moved uttered a short laugh, and returned his hand emptyto his knees. The two others perceptibly shrugged their shoulders asover a game that was lost. The remaining passenger, John Hale, fearlessby nature, inexperienced by habit, awaking suddenly to the truth, conceived desperate resistance. But without his making a gesture thiswas instinctively felt by the others; the muzzle of the gun turnedspontaneously on him, and he was vaguely conscious of a certain contemptand impatience of him in his companions. 

"Git down, " repeated the voice imperatively. 

The three passengers descended. Hale, furious, alert, but helpless ofany opportunity, followed. He was surprised to find the stage-driver andexpress messenger standing beside him; he had not heard them dismount. He instinctively looked towards the horses. He could see nothing. 

"Hold up your hands!"

One of the passengers had already lifted his, in a weary, perfunctoryway. The others did the same reluctantly and awkwardly, but apparentlymore from the consciousness of the ludicrousness of their attitudethan from any sense of danger. The rays of a bull's-eye lantern, deftlymanaged by invisible hands, while it left the intruders in shadow, completely illuminated the faces and figures of the passengers. In spiteof the majestic obscurity and silence of surrounding nature, the groupof humanity thus illuminated was more farcical than dramatic. A scrap ofnewspaper, part of a sandwich, and an orange peel that had fallen fromthe floor of the coach, brought into equal prominence by the searchinglight, completed the absurdity. 

"There's a man here with a package of greenbacks, " said the voice, withan official coolness that lent a certain suggestion of Custom Houseinspection to the transaction; "who is it?" The passengers looked ateach other, and their glance finally settled on Hale. 

"It's not HIM, " continued the voice, with a slight tinge of contempt onthe emphasis. "You'll save time and searching, gentlemen, if you'll toteit out. If we've got to go through every one of you we'll try to make itpay. "

The significant threat was not unheeded. The passenger who had firstmoved when the stage stopped put his hand to his breast. 

"T'other pocket first, if you please, " said the voice. 

The man laughed, drew a pistol from his hip pocket, and, under thestrong light of the lantern, laid it on a spot in the road indicatedby the voice. A thick envelope, taken from his breast pocket, was laidbeside it. "I told the d--d fools that gave it to me, instead of sendingit by express, it would be at their own risk, " he said apologetically. 

"As it's going with the express now it's all the same, " said theinevitable humorist of the occasion, pointing to the despoiled expresstreasure-box already in the road. 

The intention and deliberation of the outrage was plain enough to Hale'sinexperience now. Yet he could not understand the cool acquiescence ofhis fellow-passengers, and was furious. His reflections were interruptedby a voice which seemed to come from a greater distance. He fancied itwas even softer in tone, as if a certain austerity was relaxed. 

"Step in as quick as you like, gentlemen. You've five minutes to wait, Bill. "

The passengers reentered the coach; the driver and express messengerhurriedly climbed to their places. Hale would have spoken, but animpatient gesture from his companions stopped him. They were evidentlylistening for something; he listened too. 

Yet the silence remained unbroken. It seemed incredible that thereshould be no indication near or far of that forceful presence which amoment ago had been so dominant. No rustle in the wayside "brush, " norecho from the rocky canyon below, betrayed a sound of their flight. Afaint breeze stirred the tall tips of the pines, a cone dropped on thestage roof, one of the invisible horses that seemed to be listening toomoved slightly in his harness. But this only appeared to accentuatethe profound stillness. The moments were growing interminable, when thevoice, so near as to startle Hale, broke once more from the surroundingobscurity. 

"Good-night!"

It was the signal that they were free. The driver's whip cracked likea pistol shot, the horses sprang furiously forward, the huge vehiclelurched ahead, and then bounded violently after them. When Hale couldmake his voice heard in the confusion--a confusion which seemed greaterfrom the colorless intensity of their last few moments' experience--hesaid hurriedly, "Then that fellow was there all the time?"

"I reckon, " returned his companion, "he stopped five minutes to coverthe driver with his double-barrel, until the two other men got off withthe treasure. "

"The TWO others!" gasped Hale. "Then there were only THREE men, and weSIX. "

The man shrugged his shoulders. The passenger who had given up thegreenbacks drawled, with a slow, irritating tolerance, "I reckon you'rea stranger here?"

"I am--to this sort of thing, certainly, though I live a dozen milesfrom here, at Eagle's Court, " returned Hale scornfully. 

"Then you're the chap that's doin' that fancy ranchin' over at Eagle's, "continued the man lazily. 

"Whatever I'm doing at Eagle's Court, I'm not ashamed of it, " said Haletartly; "and that's more than I can say of what I've done--or HAVEN'Tdone--to-night. I've been one of six men over-awed and robbed by THREE. "

"As to the over-awin', ez you call it--mebbee you know more aboutit than us. As to the robbin'--ez far as I kin remember, YOU haven'tonloaded much. Ef you're talkin' about what OUGHTER have been done, I'll tell you what COULD have happened. P'r'aps ye noticed that when hepulled up I made a kind of grab for my wepping behind me?"

"I did; and you wern't quick enough, " said Hale shortly. 

"I wasn't quick enough, and that saved YOU. For ef I got that pistol outand in sight o' that man that held the gun--"

"Well, " said Hale impatiently, "he'd have hesitated. "

"He'd hev blown YOU with both barrels outer the window, and that beforeI'd got a half-cock on my revolver. "

"But that would have been only one man gone, and there would have beenfive of you left, " said Hale haughtily. 

"That might have been, ef you'd contracted to take the hull charge oftwo handfuls of buck-shot and slugs; but ez one eighth o' that amountwould have done your business, and yet left enough to have gone round, promiskiss, and satisfied the other passengers, it wouldn't do tokalkilate upon. "

"But the express messenger and the driver were armed, " continued Hale. 

"They were armed, but not FIXED; that makes all the difference. "

"I don't understand. "

"I reckon you know what a duel is?"

"Yes. "

"Well, the chances agin US was about the same as you'd have ef you wasput up agin another chap who was allowed to draw a bead on you, and thesignal to fire was YOUR DRAWIN' YOUR WEAPON. You may be a stranger tothis sort o' thing, and p'r'aps you never fought a duel, but even thenyou wouldn't go foolin' your life away on any such chances. "

Something in the man's manner, as in a certain sly amusement the otherpassengers appeared to extract from the conversation, impressed Hale, already beginning to be conscious of the ludicrous insufficiency of hisown grievance beside that of his interlocutor. 

"Then you mean to say this thing is inevitable, " said he bitterly, butless aggressively. 

"Ez long ez they hunt YOU; when you hunt THEM you've got the advantage, allus provided you know how to get at them ez well as they know how toget at you. This yer coach is bound to go regular, and on certaindays. THEY ain't. By the time the sheriff gets out his posse they'veskedaddled, and the leader, like as not, is takin' his quiet cocktail atthe Bank Exchange, or mebbe losin' his earnings to the sheriff over drawpoker, in Sacramento. You see you can't prove anything agin them unlessyou take them 'on the fly. ' It may be a part of Joaquim Murietta's band, though I wouldn't swear to it. "

"The leader might have been Gentleman George, from up-country, "interposed a passenger. "He seemed to throw in a few fancy touches, particlerly in that 'Good night. ' Sorter chucked a little sentiment init. Didn't seem to be the same thing ez, 'Git, yer d--d suckers, ' on theother line. "

"Whoever he was, he knew the road and the men who travelled on it. Likeez not, he went over the line beside the driver on the box on the downtrip, and took stock of everything. He even knew I had those greenbacks;though they were handed to me in the bank at Sacramento. He must havebeen hanging 'round there. "

For some moments Hale remained silent. He was a civic-bred man, with anintense love of law and order; the kind of man who is the first to takethat law and order into his own hands when he does not find it existingto please him. He had a Bostonian's respect for respectability, tradition, and propriety, but was willing to face irregularity andimpropriety to create order elsewhere. He was fond of Nature with theselimitations, never quite trusting her unguided instincts, and findingher as an instructress greatly inferior to Harvard University, thoughpossibly not to Cornell. With dauntless enterprise and energy he hadbuilt and stocked a charming cottage farm in a nook in the Sierras, whence he opposed, like the lesser Englishman that he was, his owntastes to those of the alien West. In the present instance he felt itincumbent upon him not only to assert his principles, but to actupon them with his usual energy. How far he was impelled by thehalf-contemptuous passiveness of his companions it would be difficult tosay. 

"What is to prevent the pursuit of them at once?" he asked suddenly. "Weare a few miles from the station, where horses can be procured. "

"Who's to do it?" replied the other lazily. "The stage company willlodge the complaint with the authorities, but it will take two days toget the county officers out, and it's nobody else's funeral. "

"I will go for one, " said Hale quietly. "I have a horse waiting for meat the station, and can start at once. "

There was an instant of silence. The stage-coach had left the obscurityof the forest, and by the stronger light Hale could perceive that hiscompanion was examining him with two colorless, lazy eyes. Presentlyhe said, meeting Hale's clear glance, but rather as if yielding to acareless reflection, --

"It MIGHT be done with four men. We oughter raise one man at thestation. " He paused. "I don't know ez I'd mind taking a hand myself, " headded, stretching out his legs with a slight yawn. 

"Ye can count ME in, if you're goin', Kernel. I reckon I'm talkin' toKernel Clinch, " said the passenger beside Hale with sudden alacrity. "I'm Rawlins, of Frisco. Heerd of ye afore, Kernel, and kinder spottedyou jist now from your talk. "

To Hale's surprise the two men, after awkwardly and perfunctorilygrasping each other's hand, entered at once into a languid conversationon the recent election at Fresno, without the slightest furtherreference to the pursuit of the robbers. It was not until the remainingand undenominated passenger turned to Hale, and, regretting that he hadimmediate business at the Summit, offered to accompany the party if theywould wait a couple of hours, that Colonel Clinch briefly returned tothe subject. 

"FOUR men will do, and ez we'll hev to take horses from the stationwe'll hev to take the fourth man from there. "

With these words he resumed his uninteresting conversation with theequally uninterested Rawlins, and the undenominated passenger subsidedinto an admiring and dreamy contemplation of them both. With all hisprinciple and really high-minded purpose, Hale could not help feelingconstrained and annoyed at the sudden subordinate and auxiliary positionto which he, the projector of the enterprise, had been reduced. It wastrue that he had never offered himself as their leader; it was true thatthe principle he wished to uphold and the effect he sought to obtainwould be equally demonstrated under another; it was true that theexecution of his own conception gravitated by some occult impulse tothe man who had not sought it, and whom he had always regarded as anincapable. But all this was so unlike precedent or tradition that, afterthe fashion of conservative men, he was suspicious of it, and only thathis honor was now involved he would have withdrawn from the enterprise. There was still a chance of reasserting himself at the station, where hewas known, and where some authority might be deputed to him. 

But even this prospect failed. The station, half hotel and half stable, contained only the landlord, who was also express agent, and the newvolunteer who Clinch had suggested would be found among the stable-men. The nearest justice of the peace was ten miles away, and Hale had toabandon even his hope of being sworn in as a deputy constable. Thisintroduction of a common and illiterate ostler into the party on equalterms with himself did not add to his satisfaction, and a remark fromRawlins seemed to complete his embarrassment. 

"Ye had a mighty narrer escape down there just now, " said that gentlemanconfidentially, as Hale buckled his saddle girths. 

"I thought, as we were not supposed to defend ourselves, there was nodanger, " said Hale scornfully. 

"Oh, I don't mean them road agents. But HIM. "

"Who?"

"Kernel Clinch. You jist ez good as allowed he hadn't any grit. "

"Whatever I said, I suppose I am responsible for it, " answered Halehaughtily. 

"That's what gits me, " was the imperturbable reply. "He's the best shotin Southern California, and hez let daylight through a dozen chaps aforenow for half what you said. "

"Indeed!"

"Howsummever, " continued Rawlins philosophically, "ez he's concluded togo WITH ye instead of FOR ye, you're likely to hev your ideas on thismatter carried out up to the handle. He'll make short work of it, youbet. Ef, ez I suspect, the leader is an airy young feller from Frisco, who hez took to the road lately, Clinch hez got a personal grudge aginhim from a quarrel over draw poker. "

This was the last blow to Hale's ideal crusade. Here he was--an honest, respectable citizen--engaged as simple accessory to a lawless vendettaoriginating at a gambling table! When the first shock was over thatgrim philosophy which is the reaction of all imaginative and sensitivenatures came to his aid. He felt better; oddly enough he began to beconscious that he was thinking and acting like his companions. With thisfeeling a vague sympathy, before absent, faintly showed itself in theiractions. The Sharpe's rifle put into his hands by the stable-man wasaccompanied by a familiar word of suggestion as to an equal, whichhe was ashamed to find flattered him. He was able to continue theconversation with Rawlins more coolly. 

"Then you suspect who is the leader?"

"Only on giniral principles. There was a finer touch, so to speak, inthis yer robbery that wasn't in the old-fashioned style. Down in mycountry they hed crude ideas about them things--used to strip thepassengers of everything, includin' their clothes. They say that at thestation hotels, when the coach came in, the folks used to stand roundwith blankets to wrap up the passengers so ez not to skeer the wimen. Thar's a story that the driver and express manager drove up one day withonly a copy of the Alty Californy wrapped around 'em; but thin, " addedRawlins grimly, "there WAS folks ez said the hull story was only anadvertisement got up for the Alty. "

"Time's up. "

"Are you ready, gentlemen?" said Colonel Clinch. 

Hale started. He had forgotten his wife and family at Eagle's Court, ten miles away. They would be alarmed at his absence, would perhaps hearsome exaggerated version of the stage coach robbery, and fear the worst. 

"Is there any way I could send a line to Eagle's Court before daybreak?"he asked eagerly. 

The station was already drained of its spare men and horses. Theundenominated passenger stepped forward and offered to take it himselfwhen his business, which he would despatch as quickly as possible, wasconcluded. 

"That ain't a bad idea, " said Clinch reflectively, "for ef yer hurryyou'll head 'em off in case they scent us, and try to double back on theNorth Ridge. They'll fight shy of the trail if they see anybody on it, and one man's as good as a dozen. "

Hale could not help thinking that he might have been that one man, andhad his opportunity for independent action but for his rash proposal, but it was too late to withdraw now. He hastily scribbled a few lines tohis wife on a sheet of the station paper, handed it to the man, and tookhis place in the little cavalcade as it filed silently down the road. 

They had ridden in silence for nearly an hour, and had passed the sceneof the robbery by a higher track. Morning had long ago advanced itscolors on the cold white peaks to their right, and was taking possessionof the spur where they rode. 

"It looks like snow, " said Rawlins quietly. 

Hale turned towards him in astonishment. Nothing on earth or sky lookedless likely. It had been cold, but that might have been only a currentfrom the frozen peaks beyond, reaching the lower valley. The ridgeon which they had halted was still thick with yellowish-green summerfoliage, mingled with the darker evergreen of pine and fir. Oven-likecanyons in the long flanks of the mountain seemed still to glow with theheat of yesterday's noon; the breathless air yet trembled and quiveredover stifling gorges and passes in the granite rocks, while far at theirfeet sixty miles of perpetual summer stretched away over the windingAmerican River, now and then lost in a gossamer haze. It was scarcelyripe October where they stood; they could see the plenitude of Auguststill lingering in the valleys. 

"I've seen Thomson's Pass choked up with fifteen feet o' snow earlierthan this, " said Rawlins, answering Hale's gaze; "and last September thepassengers sledded over the road we came last night, and all the timeThomson, a mile lower down over the ridge in the hollow, smoking hispipes under roses in his piazzy! Mountains is mighty uncertain; theymake their own weather ez they want it. I reckon you ain't wintered hereyet. "

Hale was obliged to admit that he had only taken Eagle's Court in theearly spring. 

"Oh, you're all right at Eagle's--when you're there! But it's likeThomson's--it's the gettin' there that--Hallo! What's that?"

A shot, distant but distinct, had rung through the keen air. It wasfollowed by another so alike as to seem an echo. 

"That's over yon, on the North Ridge, " said the ostler, "about two milesas the crow flies and five by the trail. Somebody's shootin' b'ar. "

"Not with a shot gun, " said Clinch, quickly wheeling his horse with agesture that electrified them. "It's THEM, and the've doubled on us! Tothe North Ridge, gentlemen, and ride all you know!"

It needed no second challenge to completely transform that quietcavalcade. The wild man-hunting instinct, inseparable to mosthumanity, rose at their leader's look and word. With an incoherent andunintelligible cry, giving voice to the chase like the commonest houndof their fields, the order-loving Hale and the philosophical Rawlinswheeled with the others, and in another instant the little band sweptout of sight in the forest. 

An immense and immeasurable quiet succeeded. The sunlight glistenedsilently on cliff and scar, the vast distance below seemed to stretchout and broaden into repose. It might have been fancy, but over thesharp line of the North Ridge a light smoke lifted as of an escapingsoul. 

CHAPTER II

Eagle's Court, one of the highest canyons of the Sierras, was in realitya plateau of table-land, embayed like a green lake in a semi-circularsweep of granite, that, lifting itself three thousand feet higher, became a foundation for the eternal snows. The mountain genii of spaceand atmosphere jealously guarded its seclusion and surrounded it withillusions; it never looked to be exactly what it was: the traveller whosaw it from the North Ridge apparently at his feet in descending foundhimself separated from it by a mile-long abyss and a rushing river;those who sought it by a seeming direct trail at the end of an hour lostsight of it completely, or, abandoning the quest and retracing theirsteps, suddenly came upon the gap through which it was entered. Thatwhich from the Ridge appeared to be a copse of bushes beside the tinydwelling were trees three hundred feet high; the cultivated lawn beforeit, which might have been covered by the traveller's handkerchief, was afield of a thousand acres. 

The house itself was a long, low, irregular structure, chiefly of roofand veranda, picturesquely upheld by rustic pillars of pine, with thebark still adhering, and covered with vines and trailing roses. Yet itwas evident that the coolness produced by this vast extent of cover wasmore than the architect, who had planned it under the influence of astaring and bewildering sky, had trustfully conceived, for it had to bemitigated by blazing fires in open hearths when the thermometer markeda hundred degrees in the field beyond. The dry, restless wind thatcontinually rocked the tall masts of the pines with a sound like thedistant sea, while it stimulated out-door physical exertion and defiedfatigue, left the sedentary dwellers in these altitudes chilled in theshade they courted, or scorched them with heat when they ventured tobask supinely in the sun. White muslin curtains at the French windows, and rugs, skins, and heavy furs dispersed in the interior, withcertain other charming but incongruous details of furniture, marked theinconsistencies of the climate. 

There was a coquettish indication of this in the costume of MissKate Scott as she stepped out on the veranda that morning. A man'sbroad-brimmed Panama hat, partly unsexed by a twisted gayly-coloredscarf, but retaining enough character to give piquancy to the prettycurves of the face beneath, protected her from the sun; a red flannelshirt--another spoil from the enemy--and a thick jacket shielded herfrom the austerities of the morning breeze. But the next inconsistencywas peculiarly her own. Miss Kate always wore the freshest and lightestof white cambric skirts, without the least reference to the temperature. To the practical sanatory remonstrances of her brother-in-law, and tothe conventional criticism of her sister, she opposed the same defence:"How else is one to tell when it is summer in this ridiculous climate?And then, woollen is stuffy, color draws the sun, and one at leastknows when one is clean or dirty. " Artistically the result was far fromunsatisfactory. It was a pretty figure under the sombre pines, againstthe gray granite and the steely sky, and seemed to lend the yellowingfields from which the flowers had already fled a floral relief of color. I do not think the few masculine wayfarers of that locality objectedto it; indeed, some had betrayed an indiscreet admiration, and hadcuriously followed the invitation of Miss Kate's warmly-colored figureuntil they had encountered the invincible indifference of Miss Kate'scold gray eyes. With these manifestations her brother-in-law didnot concern himself; he had perfect confidence in her unqualifieddisinterest in the neighboring humanity, and permitted her to wander inher solitary picturesqueness, or accompanied her when she rode in herdark green habit, with equal freedom from anxiety. 

For Miss Scott, although only twenty, had already subjected most ofher maidenly illusions to mature critical analyses. She had voluntarilyaccompanied her sister and mother to California, in the earnesthope that nature contained something worth saying to her, and wasdisappointed to find she had already discounted its value in the pagesof books. She hoped to find a vague freedom in this unconventionallife thus opened to her, or rather to show others that she knew howintelligently to appreciate it, but as yet she was only able to expressit in the one detail of dress already alluded to. Some of the men, andnearly all the women, she had met thus far, she was amazed to find, valued the conventionalities she believed she despised, and werevoluntarily assuming the chains she thought she had thrown off. Insteadof learning anything from them, these children of nature had bored herwith eager questionings regarding the civilization she had abandoned, orirritated her with crude imitations of it for her benefit. "Fancy, "she had written to a friend in Boston, "my calling on Sue Murphy, whoremembered the Donner tragedy, and who once shot a grizzly that wasprowling round her cabin, and think of her begging me to lend her mysack for a pattern, and wanting to know if 'polonays' were still worn. "She remembered more bitterly the romance that had tickled her earlierfancy, told of two college friends of her brother-in-law's who wereliving the "perfect life" in the mines, laboring in the ditches witha copy of Homer in their pockets, and writing letters of the purestphilosophy under the free air of the pines. How, coming unexpectedly onthem in their Arcadia, the party found them unpresentable through dirt, and thenceforth unknowable through domestic complications that hadfilled their Arcadian cabin with half-breed children. 

Much of this disillusion she had kept within her own heart, from afeeling of pride, or only lightly touched upon it in her relations withher mother and sister. For Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Scott had no idols toshatter, no enthusiasm to subdue. Firmly and unalterably consciousof their own superiority to the life they led and the community thatsurrounded them, they accepted their duties cheerfully, and performedthem conscientiously. Those duties were loyalty to Hale's interests anda vague missionary work among the neighbors, which, like most missionarywork, consisted rather in making their own ideas understood than inunderstanding the ideas of their audience. Old Mrs. Scott's zeal waspartly religious, an inheritance from her Puritan ancestry; Mrs. Hale'swas the affability of a gentlewoman and the obligation of her position. To this was added the slight languor of the cultivated American wife, whose health has been affected by the birth of her first child, andwhose views of marriage and maternity were slightly tinged with gentlescepticism. She was sincerely attached to her husband, "who dominatedthe household" like the rest of his "women folk, " with the faintconsciousness of that division of service which renders the positionof the sultan of a seraglio at once so prominent and so precarious. Theattitude of John Hale in his family circle was dominant because it hadnever been subjected to criticism or comparison; and perilous for thesame reason. 

Mrs. Hale presently joined her sister in the veranda, and, shading hereyes with a narrow white hand, glanced on the prospect with a politeinterest and ladylike urbanity. The searching sun, which, as Miss Kateonce intimated, was "vulgarity itself, " stared at her in return, butcould not call a blush to her somewhat sallow cheek. Neither could itdetract, however, from the delicate prettiness of her refined face withits soft gray shadows, or the dark gentle eyes, whose blue-veined lidswere just then wrinkled into coquettishly mischievous lines by thestrong light. She was taller and thinner than Kate, and had at times acertain shy, coy sinuosity of movement which gave her a more virginalsuggestion than her unmarried sister. For Miss Kate, from her earliestyouth, had been distinguished by that matronly sedateness of voice andstep, and completeness of figure, which indicates some members of thegallinaceous tribe from their callow infancy. 

"I suppose John must have stopped at the Summit on some business, " saidMrs. Hale, "or he would have been here already. It's scarcely worthwhile waiting for him, unless you choose to ride over and meet him. Youmight change your dress, " she continued, looking doubtfully at Kate'scostume. "Put on your riding-habit, and take Manuel with you. "

"And take the only man we have, and leave you alone?" returned Kateslowly. "No!"

"There are the Chinese field hands, " said Mrs. Hale; "you must correctyour ideas, and really allow them some humanity, Kate. John says theyhave a very good compulsory school system in their own country, and canread and write. "

"That would be of little use to you here alone if--if--" Kate hesitated. 

"If what?" said Mrs. Hale smiling. "Are you thinking of Manuel'sdreadful story of the grizzly tracks across the fields this morning? Ipromise you that neither I, nor mother, nor Minnie shall stir out of thehouse until you return, if you wish it. "

"I wasn't thinking of that, " said Kate; "though I don't believe thebeating of a gong and the using of strong language is the best way tofrighten a grizzly from the house. Besides, the Chinese are goingdown the river to-day to a funeral, or a wedding, or a feast of stolenchickens--they're all the same--and won't be here. "

"Then take Manuel, " repeated Mrs. Hale. "We have the Chinese servantsand Indian Molly in the house to protect us from Heaven knows what! Ihave the greatest confidence in Chy-Lee as a warrior, and in Chinesewarfare generally. One has only to hear him pipe in time of peace toimagine what a terror he might become in war time. Indeed, anything moredeadly and soul-harrowing than that love song he sang for us last nightI cannot conceive. But really, Kate, I am not afraid to stay alone. Youknow what John says: we ought to be always prepared for anything thatmight happen. 

"My dear Josie, " returned Kate, putting her arm around her sister'swaist, "I am perfectly convinced that if three-fingered Jack, or two-toed Bill, or even Joaquim Murietta himself, should step, red-handed, on that veranda, you would gently invite him to take a cupof tea, inquire about the state of the road, and refrain delicatelyfrom any allusions to the sheriff. But I shan't take Manuel from you. I really cannot undertake to look after his morals at the station, andkeep him from drinking aguardiente with suspicious characters at thebar. It is true he 'kisses my hand' in his speech, even when it isthickest, and offers his back to me for a horse-block, but I thinkI prefer the sober and honest familiarity of even that Pike Countylandlord who is satisfied to say, 'Jump, girl, and I'll ketch ye!'"

"I hope you didn't change your manner to either of them for that, " saidMrs. Hale with a faint sigh. "John wants to be good friends with them, and they are behaving quite decently lately, considering that they can'tspeak a grammatical sentence nor know the use of a fork. "

"And now the man puts on gloves and a tall hat to come here on Sundays, and the woman won't call until you've called first, " retorted Kate;"perhaps you call that improvement. The fact is, Josephine, " continuedthe young girl, folding her arms demurely, "we might as well admit it atonce--these people don't like us. "

"That's impossible!" said Mrs. Hale, with sublime simplicity. "You don'tlike them, you mean. "

"I like them better than you do, Josie, and that's the reason why I feelit and YOU don't. " She checked herself, and after a pause resumed in alighter tone: "No; I sha'n't go to the station; I'll commune with natureto-day, and won't 'take any humanity in mine, thank you, ' as Bill thedriver says. Adios. "

"I wish Kate would not use that dreadful slang, even in jest, " saidMrs. Scott, in her rocking-chair at the French window, when Josephinereentered the parlor as her sister walked briskly away. "I am afraidshe is being infected by the people at the station. She ought to have achange. "

"I was just thinking, " said Josephine, looking abstractedly at hermother, "that I would try to get John to take her to San Francisco thiswinter. The Careys are expected, you know; she might visit them. "

"I'm afraid, if she stays here much longer, she won't care to see themat all. She seems to care for nothing now that she ever liked before, "returned the old lady ominously. 

Meantime the subject of these criticisms was carrying away her ownreflections tightly buttoned up in her short jacket. She had driven backher dog Spot--another one of her disillusions, who, giving way tohis lower nature, had once killed a sheep--as she did not wish herJacques-like contemplation of any wounded deer to be inconsistentlyinterrupted by a fresh outrage from her companion. The air was reallyvery chilly, and for the first time in her mountain experience thedirect rays of the sun seemed to be shorn of their power. This compelledher to walk more briskly than she was conscious of, for in less than anhour she came suddenly and breathlessly upon the mouth of the canyon, ornatural gateway to Eagle's Court. 

To her always a profound spectacle of mountain magnificence, it seemedto-day almost terrible in its cold, strong grandeur. The narrowing passwas choked for a moment between two gigantic buttresses of granite, approaching each other so closely at their towering summits that treesgrowing in opposite clefts of the rock intermingled their branches andpointed the soaring Gothic arch of a stupendous gateway. She raised hereyes with a quickly beating heart. She knew that the interlacing treesabove her were as large as those she had just quitted; she knew alsothat the point where they met was only half-way up the cliff, for shehad once gazed down upon them, dwindled to shrubs from the airy summit;she knew that their shaken cones fell a thousand feet perpendicularly, or bounded like shot from the scarred walls they bombarded. Sheremembered that one of these pines, dislodged from its high foundations, had once dropped like a portcullis in the archway, blocking the pass, and was only carried afterwards by assault of steel and fire. Bendingher head mechanically, she ran swiftly through the shadowy passage, andhalted only at the beginning of the ascent on the other side. 

It was here that the actual position of the plateau, so indefiniteof approach, began to be realized. It now appeared an independentelevation, surrounded on three sides by gorges and watercourses, sonarrow as to be overlooked from the principal mountain range, with whichit was connected by a long canyon that led to the ridge. At the outletof this canyon--in bygone ages a mighty river--it had the appearance ofhaving been slowly raised by the diluvium of that river, and the debriswashed down from above--a suggestion repeated in miniature by theartificial plateaus of excavated soil raised before the mouths of miningtunnels in the lower flanks of the mountain. It was the realization of afact--often forgotten by the dwellers in Eagle's Court--that the valleybelow them, which was their connecting link with the surrounding world, was only reached by ascending the mountain, and the nearest road wasover the higher mountain ridge. Never before had this impressed itselfso strongly upon the young girl as when she turned that morning to lookupon the plateau below her. It seemed to illustrate the convictionthat had been slowly shaping itself out of her reflections on theconversation of that morning. It was possible that the perfectunderstanding of a higher life was only reached from a height stillgreater, and that to those half-way up the mountain the summit was neveras truthfully revealed as to the humbler dwellers in the valley. 

I do not know that these profound truths prevented her from gatheringsome quaint ferns and berries, or from keeping her calm gray eyes opento certain practical changes that were taking place around her. She hadnoticed a singular thickening in the atmosphere that seemed to preventthe passage of the sun's rays, yet without diminishing the transparentquality of the air. The distant snow-peaks were as plainly seen, thoughthey appeared as if in moonlight. This seemed due to no cloud or mist, but rather to a fading of the sun itself. The occasional flurry of wingsoverhead, the whirring of larger birds in the cover, and a frequentrustling in the undergrowth, as of the passage of some stealthy animal, began equally to attract her attention. It was so different from thehabitual silence of these sedate solitudes. Kate had no vague fear ofwild beasts; she had been long enough a mountaineer to understand thegeneral immunity enjoyed by the unmolesting wayfarer, and kept her wayundismayed. She was descending an abrupt trail when she was stopped by asudden crash in the bushes. It seemed to come from the opposite incline, directly in a line with her, and apparently on the very trail that shewas pursuing. The crash was then repeated again and again lower down, asof a descending body. Expecting the apparition of some fallen tree, ordetached boulder bursting through the thicket, in its way to the bottomof the gulch, she waited. The foliage was suddenly brushed aside, anda large grizzly bear half rolled, half waddled, into the trail on theopposite side of the hill. A few moments more would have brought themface to face at the foot of the gulch; when she stopped there were notfifty yards between them. 

She did not scream; she did not faint; she was not even frightened. There did not seem to be anything terrifying in this huge, stupid beast, who, arrested by the rustle of a stone displaced by her descending feet, rose slowly on his haunches and gazed at her with small, wondering eyes. Nor did it seem strange to her, seeing that he was in her way, to pickup a stone, throw it in his direction, and say simply, "Sho! get away!"as she would have done to an intruding cow. Nor did it seem odd thathe should actually "go away" as he did, scrambling back into the bushesagain, and disappearing like some grotesque figure in a transformationscene. It was not until after he had gone that she was taken witha slight nervousness and giddiness, and retraced her steps somewhathurriedly, shying a little at every rustle in the thicket. By the timeshe had reached the great gateway she was doubtful whether to be pleasedor frightened at the incident, but she concluded to keep it to herself. 

It was still intensely cold. The light of the midday sun had decreasedstill more, and on reaching the plateau again she saw that a dark cloud, not unlike the precursor of a thunder-storm, was brooding over the snowypeaks beyond. In spite of the cold this singular suggestion of summerphenomena was still borne out by the distant smiling valley, and evenin the soft grasses at her feet. It seemed to her the crowninginconsistency of the climate, and with a half-serious, half-playfulprotest on her lips she hurried forward to seek the shelter of thehouse. 

CHAPTER III

To Kate's surprise, the lower part of the house was deserted, but therewas an unusual activity on the floor above, and the sound of heavysteps. There were alien marks of dusty feet on the scrupulously cleanpassage, and on the first step of the stairs a spot of blood. With asudden genuine alarm that drove her previous adventure from her mind, she impatiently called her sister's name. There was a hasty yet subduedrustle of skirts on the staircase, and Mrs. Hale, with her finger on herlip, swept Kate unceremoniously into the sitting-room, closed the door, and leaned back against it, with a faint smile. She had a crumpled paperin her hand. 

"Don't be alarmed, but read that first, " she said, handing her sisterthe paper. "It was brought just now. "

Kate instantly recognized her brother's distinct hand. She readhurriedly, "The coach was robbed last night; nobody hurt. I've lostnothing but a day's time, as this business will keep me here untilto-morrow, when Manuel can join me with a fresh horse. No cause foralarm. As the bearer goes out of his way to bring you this, see that hewants for nothing. "

"Well, " said Kate expectantly. 

"Well, the 'bearer' was fired upon by the robbers, who were lurking onthe Ridge. He was wounded in the leg. Luckily he was picked up by hisfriend, who was coming to meet him, and brought here as the nearestplace. He's up-stairs in the spare bed in the spare room, with hisfriend, who won't leave his side. He won't even have mother in the room. They've stopped the bleeding with John's ambulance things, and now, Kate, here's a chance for you to show the value of your education inthe ambulance class. The ball has got to be extracted. Here's youropportunity. "

Kate looked at her sister curiously. There was a faint pink flush on herpale cheeks, and her eyes were gently sparkling. She had never seen herlook so pretty before. 

"Why not have sent Manuel for a doctor at once?" asked Kate. 

"The nearest doctor is fifteen miles away, and Manuel is nowhere to befound. Perhaps he's gone to look after the stock. There's some talk ofsnow; imagine the absurdity of it!"

"But who are they?"

"They speak of themselves as 'friends, ' as if it were a profession. Thewounded one was a passenger, I suppose. "

"But what are they like?" continued Kate. "I suppose they're like themall. "

Mrs. Hale shrugged her shoulders. 

"The wounded one, when he's not fainting away, is laughing. The other isa creature with a moustache, and gloomy beyond expression. "

"What are you going to do with them?" said Kate. 

"What should I do? Even without John's letter I could not refuse theshelter of my house to a wounded and helpless man. I shall keep him, of course, until John comes. Why, Kate, I really believe you are soprejudiced against these people you'd like to turn them out. But Iforget! It's because you LIKE them so well. Well, you need not fear toexpose yourself to the fascinations of the wounded Christy Minstrel--I'msure he's that--or to the unspeakable one, who is shyness itself, andwould not dare to raise his eyes to you. "

There was a timid, hesitating step in the passage. It paused before thedoor, moved away, returned, and finally asserted its intentions in thegentlest of taps. 

"It's him; I'm sure of it, " said Mrs. Hale, with a suppressed smile. 

Kate threw open the door smartly, to the extreme discomfiture of a tall, dark figure that already had slunk away from it. For all that, he wasa good-looking enough fellow, with a moustache as long and almost asflexible as a ringlet. Kate could not help noticing also that his hand, which was nervously pulling the moustache, was white and thin. 

"Excuse me, " he stammered, without raising his eyes, "I was lookingfor--for--the old lady. I--I beg your pardon. I didn't know thatyou--the young ladies--company--were here. I intended--I only wanted tosay that my friend--" He stopped at the slight smile that passed quicklyover Mrs. Hale's mouth, and his pale face reddened with an angry flush. 

"I hope he is not worse, " said Mrs. Hale, with more than her usuallanguid gentleness. "My mother is not here at present. Can I--canWE--this is my sister--do as well?"

Without looking up he made a constrained recognition of Kate's presence, that embarrassed and curt as it was, had none of the awkwardness ofrusticity. 

"Thank you; you're very kind. But my friend is a little stronger, andif you can lend me an extra horse I'll try to get him on the Summitto-night. "

"But you surely will not take him away from us so soon?" said Mrs. Hale, with a languid look of alarm, in which Kate, however, detected a certainreal feeling. "Wait at least until my husband returns to-morrow. "

"He won't be here to-morrow, " said the stranger hastily. He stopped, and as quickly corrected himself. "That is, his business is so veryuncertain, my friend says. "

Only Kate noticed the slip; but she noticed also that her sister wasapparently unconscious of it. "You think, " she said, "that Mr. Hale maybe delayed?"

He turned upon her almost brusquely. "I mean that it is already snowingup there;" he pointed through the window to the cloud Kate had noticed;"if it comes down lower in the pass the roads will be blocked up. Thatis why it would be better for us to try and get on at once. "

"But if Mr. Hale is likely to be stopped by snow, so are you, " saidMrs. Hale playfully; "and you had better let us try to make your friendcomfortable here rather than expose him to that uncertainty in hisweak condition. We will do our best for him. My sister is dying foran opportunity to show her skill in surgery, " she continued, withan unexpected mischievousness that only added to Kate's surprisedembarrassment. "Aren't you, Kate?"

Equivocal as the young girl knew her silence appeared, she was unable toutter the simplest polite evasion. Some unaccountable impulse kept herconstrained and speechless. The stranger did not, however, wait for herreply, but, casting a swift, hurried glance around the room, said, "It'simpossible; we must go. In fact, I've already taken the liberty to orderthe horses round. They are at the door now. You may be certain, " headded, with quick earnestness, suddenly lifting his dark eyes to Mrs. Hale, and as rapidly withdrawing them, "that your horse will be returnedat once, and--and--we won't forget your kindness. " He stopped and turnedtowards the hall. "I--I have brought my friend down-stairs. He wants tothank you before he goes. "

As he remained standing in the hall the two women stepped to the door. To their surprise, half reclining on a cane sofa was the wounded man, and what could be seen of his slight figure was wrapped in a darkserape. His beardless face gave him a quaint boyishness quiteinconsistent with the mature lines of his temples and forehead. Pale, and in pain, as he evidently was, his blue eyes twinkled with intenseamusement. Not only did his manner offer a marked contrast to the sombreuneasiness of his companion, but he seemed to be the only one perfectlyat his ease in the group around him. 

"It's rather rough making you come out here to see me off, " he said, with a not unmusical laugh that was very infectious, "but Ned there, who carried me downstairs, wanted to tote me round the house in his armslike a baby to say ta-ta to you all. Excuse my not rising, but I feel asuncertain below as a mermaid, and as out of my element, " he added, witha mischievous glance at his friend. "Ned concluded I must go on. But Imust say good-by to the old lady first. Ah! here she is. "

To Kate's complete bewilderment, not only did the utter familiarity ofthis speech, pass unnoticed and unrebuked by her sister, but actuallyher own mother advanced quickly with every expression of livelysympathy, and with the authority of her years and an almost maternalanxiety endeavored to dissuade the invalid from going. "This is not myhouse, " she said, looking at her daughter, "but if it were I shouldnot hear of your leaving, not only to-night, but until you were out ofdanger. Josephine! Kate! What are you thinking of to permit it? Well, then I forbid it--there!"

Had they become suddenly insane, or were they bewitched by this moroseintruder and his insufferably familiar confidant? The man was wounded, it was true; they might have to put him up in common humanity; but herewas her austere mother, who wouldn't come in the room when Whisky Dickcalled on business, actually pressing both of the invalid's hands, while her sister, who never extended a finger to the ordinary visitinghumanity of the neighborhood, looked on with evident complacency. 

The wounded man suddenly raised Mrs. Scott's hand to his lips, kissedit gently, and, with his smile quite vanished, endeavored to rise to hisfeet. "It's of no use--we must go. Give me your arm, Ned. Quick! Are thehorses there?"

"Dear me, " said Mrs. Scott quickly. "I forgot to say the horse cannot befound anywhere. Manuel must have taken him this morning to look up thestock. But he will be back to-night certainly, and if to-morrow--"

The wounded man sank back to a sitting position. "Is Manuel your man?"he asked grimly. 

"Yes. "

The two men exchanged glances. 

"Marked on his left cheek and drinks a good deal?"

"Yes, " said Kate, finding her voice. "Why?"

The amused look came back to the man's eyes. "That kind of man isn'tsafe to wait for. We must take our own horse, Ned. Are you ready?"

"Yes. "

The wounded man again attempted to rise. He fell back, but this timequite heavily. He had fainted. 

Involuntarily and simultaneously the three women rushed to his side. "Hecannot go, " said Kate suddenly. 

"He will be better in a moment. "

"But only for a moment. Will nothing induce you to change your mind?"

As if in reply a sudden gust of wind brought a volley of rain againstthe window. 

"THAT will, " said the stranger bitterly. 

"The rain?"

"A mile from here it is SNOW; and before we could reach the Summit withthese horses the road would be impassable. "

He made a slight gesture to himself, as if accepting an inevitabledefeat, and turned to his companion, who was slowly reviving under theactive ministration of the two women. The wounded man looked around witha weak smile. "This is one way of going off, " he said faintly, "but Icould do this sort of thing as well on the road. "

"You can do nothing now, " said his friend, decidedly. "Before we get tothe Gate the road will be impassable for our horses. "

"For ANY horses?" asked Kate. 

"For any horses. For any man or beast I might say. Where we cannot getout, no one can get in, " he added, as if answering her thoughts. "Iam afraid that you won't see your brother to-morrow morning. But I'llreconnoitre as soon as I can do so without torturing HIM, " he said, looking anxiously at the helpless man; "he's got about his share ofpain, I reckon, and the first thing is to get him easier. " It was thelongest speech he had made to her; it was the first time he had fairlylooked her in the face. His shy restlessness had suddenly given way todogged resignation, less abstracted, but scarcely more flattering tohis entertainers. Lifting his companion gently in his arms, as if hehad been a child, he reascended the staircase, Mrs. Scott and thehastily-summoned Molly following with overflowing solicitude. As soon asthey were alone in the parlor Mrs. Hale turned to her sister: "Only thatour guests seemed to be as anxious to go just now as you were to packthem off, I should have been shocked at your inhospitality. What hascome over you, Kate? These are the very people you have reproached me sooften with not being civil enough to. "

"But WHO are they?"

"How do I know? There is YOUR BROTHER'S letter. "

She usually spoke of her husband as "John. " This slight shifting ofrelationship and responsibility to the feminine mind was significant. Kate was a little frightened and remorseful. 

"I only meant you don't even know their names. "

"That wasn't necessary for giving them a bed and bandages. Do yousuppose the good Samaritan ever asked the wounded Jew's name, and thatthe Levite did not excuse himself because the thieves had taken thepoor man's card-case? Do the directions, 'In case of accident, ' in yourambulance rules, read, 'First lay the sufferer on his back and inquirehis name and family connections'? Besides, you can call one 'Ned' andthe other 'George, ' if you like. "

"Oh, you know what I mean, " said Kate, irrelevantly. "Which is George?"

"George is the wounded man, " said Mrs. Hale; "NOT the one who talkedto you more than he did to any one else. I suppose the poor man wasfrightened and read dismissal in your eyes. "

"I wish John were here. "

"I don't think we have anything to fear in his absence from men whoseonly wish is to get away from us. If it is a question of propriety, my dear Kate, surely there is the presence of mother to prevent anyscandal--although really her own conduct with the wounded one is notabove suspicion, " she added, with that novel mischievousness that seemeda return of her lost girlhood. "We must try to do the best we can withthem and for them, " she said decidedly, "and meantime I'll see if Ican't arrange John's room for them. "

"John's room?"

"Oh, mother is perfectly satisfied; indeed, suggested it. It's largerand will hold two beds, for 'Ned, ' the friend, must attend to him atnight. And, Kate, don't you think, if you're not going out again, youmight change your costume? It does very well while we are alone--"

"Well, " said Kate indignantly, "as I am not going into his room--"

"I'm not so sure about that, if we can't get a regular doctor. But heis very restless, and wanders all over the house like a timid andapologetic spaniel. "

"Who?"

"Why 'Ned. ' But I must go and look after the patient. I suppose they'vegot him safe in his bed again, " and with a nod to her sister she trippedup-stairs. 

Uncomfortable and embarrassed, she knew not why, Kate sought her mother. But that good lady was already in attendance on the patient, andKate hurried past that baleful centre of attraction with a feeling ofloneliness and strangeness she had never experienced before. Enteringher own room she went to the window--that first and last refuge of thetroubled mind--and gazed out. Turning her eyes in the direction of hermorning's walk, she started back with a sense of being dazzled. Sherubbed first her eyes and then the rain-dimmed pane. It was no illusion!The whole landscape, so familiar to her, was one vast field of dead, colorless white! Trees, rocks, even distance itself, had vanished inthose few hours. An even shadowless, motionless white sea filled thehorizon. On either side a vast wall of snow seemed to shut out theworld like a shroud. Only the green plateau before her, with its slopingmeadows and fringe of pines and cottonwood, lay alone like a summerisland in this frozen sea. 

A sudden desire to view this phenomenon more closely, and to learn forherself the limits of this new tethered life, completely possessedher, and, accustomed to act upon her independent impulses, she seized ahooded waterproof cloak, and slipped out of the house unperceived. Therain was falling steadily along the descending trail where she walked, but beyond, scarcely a mile across the chasm, the wintry distance beganto confuse her brain with the inextricable swarming of snow. Hurryingdown with feverish excitement, she at last came in sight of the archinggranite portals of their domain. But her first glance through thegateway showed it closed as if with a white portcullis. Kate rememberedthat the trail began to ascend beyond the arch, and knew that what shesaw was only the mountain side she had partly climbed this morning. Butthe snow had already crept down its flank, and the exit by trail waspractically closed. Breathlessly making her way back to the highest partof the plateau--the cliff behind the house that here descended abruptlyto the rain-dimmed valley--she gazed at the dizzy depths in vain forsome undiscovered or forgotten trail along its face. But a single glanceconvinced her of its inaccessibility. The gateway was indeed their onlyoutlet to the plain below. She looked back at the falling snow beyonduntil she fancied she could see in the crossing and recrossing linesthe moving meshes of a fateful web woven around them by viewless butinexorable fingers. 

Half frightened, she was turning away, when she perceived, a few pacesdistant, the figure of the stranger, "Ned, " also apparently absorbedin the gloomy prospect. He was wrapped in the clinging folds of a blackserape braided with silver; the broad flap of a slouch hat beaten backby the wind exposed the dark, glistening curls on his white forehead. Hewas certainly very handsome and picturesque, and that apparently withouteffort or consciousness. Neither was there anything in his costume orappearance inconsistent with his surroundings, or, even with what Katecould judge were his habits or position. Nevertheless, she instantlydecided that he was TOO handsome and too picturesque, without suspectingthat her ideas of the limits of masculine beauty were merely personalexperience. 

As he turned away from the cliff they were brought face to face. "Itdoesn't look very encouraging over there, " he said quietly, as if theinevitableness of the situation had relieved him of his previous shynessand effort; "it's even worse than I expected. The snow must have begunthere last night, and it looks as if it meant to stay. " He stopped for amoment, and then, lifting his eyes to her, said:--

"I suppose you know what this means?"

"I don't understand you. "

"I thought not. Well! it means that you are absolutely cut off here fromany communication or intercourse with any one outside of that canyon. By this time the snow is five feet deep over the only trail by which onecan pass in and out of that gateway. I am not alarming you, I hope, forthere is no real physical danger; a place like this ought to bewell garrisoned, and certainly is self-supporting so far as the merenecessities and even comforts are concerned. You have wood, water, cattle, and game at your command, but for two weeks at least you arecompletely isolated. "

"For two weeks, " said Kate, growing pale--"and my brother!"

"He knows all by this time, and is probably as assured as I am of thesafety of his family. "

"For two weeks, " continued Kate; "impossible! You don't know my brother!He will find some way to get to us. "

"I hope so, " returned the stranger gravely, "for what is possible forhim is possible for us. "

"Then you are anxious to get away, " Kate could not help saying. 

"Very. "

The reply was not discourteous in manner, but was so far from gallantthat Kate felt a new and inconsistent resentment. Before she could sayanything he added, "And I hope you will remember, whatever may happen, that I did my best to avoid staying here longer than was necessary tokeep my friend from bleeding to death in the road. "

"Certainly, " said Kate; then added awkwardly, "I hope he'll be bettersoon. " She was silent, and then, quickening her pace, said hurriedly, "Imust tell my sister this dreadful news. "

"I think she is prepared for it. If there is anything I can do to helpyou I hope you will let me know. Perhaps I may be of some service. Ishall begin by exploring the trails to-morrow, for the best service wecan do you possibly is to take ourselves off; but I can carry a gun, andthe woods are full of game driven down from the mountains. Let me showyou something you may not have noticed. " He stopped, and pointed to asmall knoll of sheltered shrubbery and granite on the opposite mountain, which still remained black against the surrounding snow. It seemed to bethickly covered with moving objects. "They are wild animals driven outof the snow, " said the stranger. "That larger one is a grizzly; there isa panther, wolves, wild cats, a fox, and some mountain goats. "

"An ill-assorted party, " said the young girl. 

"Ill luck makes them companions. They are too frightened to hurt oneanother now. "

"But they will eat each other later on, " said Kate, stealing a glance ather companion. 

He lifted his long lashes and met her eyes. "Not on a haven of refuge. "

CHAPTER IV

Kate found her sister, as the stranger had intimated, fully prepared. Ahasty inventory of provisions and means of subsistence showed that theyhad ample resources for a much longer isolation. 

"They tell me it is by no means an uncommon case, Kate; somebody over atsomebody's place was snowed in for four weeks, and now it appears thateven the Summit House is not always accessible. John ought to have knownit when he bought the place; in fact, I was ashamed to admit that he didnot. But that is like John to prefer his own theories to the experienceof others. However, I don't suppose we should even notice the privationexcept for the mails. It will be a lesson to John, though. As Mr. Leesays, he is on the outside, and can probably go wherever he likes fromthe Summit except to come here. "

"Mr. Lee?" echoed Kate. 

"Yes, the wounded one; and the other's name is Falkner. I asked them inorder that you might be properly introduced. There were very respectableFalkners in Charlestown, you remember; I thought you might warm tothe name, and perhaps trace the connection, now that you are such goodfriends. It's providential they are here, as we haven't got a horse ora man in the place since Manuel disappeared, though Mr. Falkner sayshe can't be far away, or they would have met him on the trail if he hadgone towards the Summit. "

"Did they say anything more of Manuel?"

"Nothing; though I am inclined to agree with you that he isn'ttrustworthy. But that again is the result of John's idea of employingnative skill at the expense of retaining native habits. "

The evening closed early, and with no diminution in the falling rain andrising wind. Falkner kept his word, and unostentatiously performed theout-door work in the barn and stables, assisted by the only Chineseservant remaining, and under the advice and supervision of Kate. Although he seemed to understand horses, she was surprised to find thathe betrayed a civic ignorance of the ordinary details of the farm andrustic household. It was quite impossible that she should retain herdistrustful attitude, or he his reserve in their enforced companionship. They talked freely of subjects suggested by the situation, Falknerexhibiting a general knowledge and intuition of things without parade ordogmatism. Doubtful of all versatility as Kate was, she could not helpadmitting to herself that his truths were none the less true for theirquantity or that he got at them without ostentatious processes. His talkcertainly was more picturesque than her brother's, and less subduing toher faculties. John had always crushed her. 

When they returned to the house he did not linger in the parlor orsitting-room, but at once rejoined his friend. When dinner was ready inthe dining-room, a little more deliberately arranged and ornamented thanusual, the two women were somewhat surprised to receive an excuse fromFalkner, begging them to allow him for the present to take his mealswith the patient, and thus save the necessity of another attendant. 

"It is all shyness, Kate, " said Mrs. Hale, confidently, "and must not bepermitted for a moment. "

"I'm sure I should be quite willing to stay with the poor boy myself, "said Mrs. Scott, simply, "and take Mr. Falkner's place while he dines. "

"You are too willing, mother, " said Mrs. Hale, pertly, "and your 'poorboy, ' as you call him, will never see thirty-five again. "

"He will never see any other birthday!" retorted her mother, "unless youkeep him more quiet. He only talks when you're in the room. "

"He wants some relief to his friend's long face and moustachios thatmake him look prematurely in mourning, " said Mrs. Hale, with a slightincrease of animation. "I don't propose to leave them too much together. After dinner we'll adjourn to their room and lighten it up a little. You must come, Kate, to look at the patient, and counteract the balefuleffects of my frivolity. "

Mrs. Hale's instincts were truer than her mother's experience; not onlythat the wounded man's eyes became brighter under the provocation of herpresence, but it was evident that his naturally exuberant spirits werea part of his vital strength, and were absolutely essential to his quickrecovery. Encouraged by Falkner's grave and practical assistance, whichshe could not ignore, Kate ventured to make an examination of Lee'swound. Even to her unpractised eye it was less serious than at firstappeared. The great loss of blood had been due to the laceration ofcertain small vessels below the knee, but neither artery nor bone wasinjured. A recurrence of the haemorrhage or fever was the only thing tobe feared, and these could be averted by bandaging, repose, and simplenursing. 

The unfailing good humor of the patient under this manipulation, thequaint originality of his speech, the freedom of his fancy, which was, however, always controlled by a certain instinctive tact, began toaffect Kate nearly as it had the others. She found herself laughing overthe work she had undertaken in a pure sense of duty; she joined in thehilarity produced by Lee's affected terror of her surgical mania, andoffered to undo the bandages in search of the thimble he declared shehad left in the wound with a view to further experiments. 

"You ought to broaden your practice, " he suggested. "A good deal mightbe made out of Ned and a piece of soap left carelessly on the first stepof the staircase, while mountains of surgical opportunities lie ina humble orange peel judiciously exposed. Only I warn you that youwouldn't find him as docile as I am. Decoyed into a snow-drift andfrozen, you might get some valuable experiences in resuscitation bythawing him. "

"I fancied you had done that already, Kate, " whispered Mrs. Hale. 

"Freezing is the new suggestion for painless surgery, " said Lee, comingto Kate's relief with ready tact, "only the knowledge should bemore generally spread. There was a man up at Strawberry fell under asledge-load of wood in the snow. Stunned by the shock, he was slowlyfreezing to death, when, with a tremendous effort, he succeeded infreeing himself all but his right leg, pinned down by a small log. Hisaxe happened to have fallen within reach, and a few blows on the logfreed him. "

"And saved the poor fellow's life, " said Mrs. Scott, who was listeningwith sympathizing intensity. 

"At the expense of his LEFT LEG, which he had unknowingly cut off underthe pleasing supposition that it was a log, " returned Lee demurely. 

Nevertheless, in a few moments he managed to divert the slightly shockedsusceptibilities of the old lady with some raillery of himself, and didnot again interrupt the even good-humored communion of the party. Therain beating against the windows and the fire sparkling on the hearthseemed to lend a charm to their peculiar isolation, and it was not untilMrs. Scott rose with a warning that they were trespassing upon the restof their patient that they discovered that the evening had slipped byunnoticed. When the door at last closed on the bright, sympatheticeyes of the two young women and the motherly benediction of the elder, Falkner walked to the window, and remained silent, looking into thedarkness. Suddenly he turned bitterly to his companion. 

"This is just h-ll, George. "

George Lee, with a smile on his boyish face, lazily moved his head. 

"I don't know! If it wasn't for the old woman, who is the one solidchunk of absolute goodness here, expecting nothing, wanting nothing, it would be good fun enough! These two women, cooped up in this house, wanted excitement. They've got it! That man Hale wanted to show off bygoing for us; he's had his chance, and will have it again before I'vedone with him. That d--d fool of a messenger wanted to go out of his wayto exchange shots with me; I reckon he's the most satisfied of the lot!I don't know why YOU should growl. You did your level best to get awayfrom here, and the result is, that little Puritan is ready to worshipyou. "

"Yes--but this playing it on them--George--this--"

"Who's playing it? Not you; I see you've given away our names already. "

"I couldn't lie, and they know nothing by that. "

"Do you think they would be happier by knowing it? Do you think thatsoft little creature would be as happy as she was to-night if she knewthat her husband had been indirectly the means of laying me by the heelshere? Where is the swindle? This hole in my leg? If you had been fiveminutes under that girl's d--d sympathetic fingers you'd have thought itwas genuine. Is it in our trying to get away? Do you call that ten-feetdrift in the pass a swindle? Is it in the chance of Hale getting backwhile we're here? That's real enough, isn't it? I say, Ned, did you evergive your unfettered intellect to the contemplation of THAT?"

Falkner did not reply. There was an interval of silence, but he couldsee from the movement of George's shoulders that he was shaking withsuppressed laughter. 

"Fancy Mrs. Hale archly introducing her husband! My offering him achair, but being all the time obliged to cover him with a derringerunder the bedclothes. Your rushing in from your peaceful pastoralpursuits in the barn, with a pitchfork in one hand and the girl in theother, and dear old mammy sympathizing all round and trying to makeeverything comfortable. "

"I should not be alive to see it, George, " said Falkner gloomily. 

"You'd manage to pitchfork me and those two women on Hale's horse andride away; that's what you'd do, or I don't know you! Look here, Ned, "he added more seriously, "the only swindling was our bringing that notehere. That was YOUR idea. You thought it would remove suspicion, and asyou believed I was bleeding to death you played that game for all it wasworth to save me. You might have done what I asked you to do--proppedme up in the bushes, and got away yourself. I was good for a couple ofshots yet, and after that--what mattered? That night, the next day, thenext time I take the road, or a year hence? It will come when it willcome, all the same!"

He did not speak bitterly, nor relax his smile. Falkner, withoutspeaking, slid his hand along the coverlet. Lee grasped it, and theirhands remained clasped together for a few minutes in silence. 

"How is this to end? We cannot go on here in this way, " said Falknersuddenly. 

"If we cannot get away it must go on. Look here, Ned. I don't reckonto take anything out of this house that I didn't bring in it, or isn'tfreely offered to me; yet I don't otherwise, you understand, intendmaking myself out a d--d bit better than I am. That's the only excuse Ihave for not making myself out JUST WHAT I am. I don't know the fellowwho's obliged to tell every one the last company he was in, or the lastthing he did! Do you suppose even these pretty little women tell UStheir whole story? Do you fancy that this St. John in the wilderness iscanonized in his family? Perhaps, when I take the liberty to intrude inhis affairs, as he has in mine, he'd see he isn't. I don't blame you forbeing sensitive, Ned. It's natural. When a man lives outside the revisedstatutes of his own State he is apt to be awfully fine on points ofetiquette in his own household. As for me, I find it rather comfortablehere. The beds of other people's making strike me as being moresatisfactory than my own. Good-night. "

In a few moments he was sleeping the peaceful sleep of that youth whichseemed to be his own dominant quality. Falkner stood for a little spaceand watched him, following the boyish lines of his cheek on the pillow, from the shadow of the light brown lashes under his closed lids to thelifting of his short upper lip over his white teeth, with his regularrespiration. Only a sharp accenting of the line of nostril and jaw and afaint depression of the temple betrayed his already tried manhood. 

The house had long sunk to repose when Falkner returned to the window, and remained looking out upon the storm. Suddenly he extinguished thelight, and passing quickly to the bed laid his hand upon the sleeper. Lee opened his eyes instantly. 

"Are you awake?"

"Perfectly. "

"Somebody is trying to get into the house!"

"Not HIM, eh?" said Lee gayly. 

"No; two men. Mexicans, I think. One looks like Manuel. "

"Ah, " said Lee, drawing himself up to a sitting posture. 

"Well?"

"Don't you see? He believes the women are alone. "

"The dog--d--d hound!"

"Speak respectfully of one of my people, if you please, and hand me myderringer. Light the candle again, and open the door. Let them get inquietly. They'll come here first. It's HIS room, you understand, and ifthere's any money it's here. Anyway, they must pass here to get to thewomen's rooms. Leave Manuel to me, and you take care of the other. "

"I see. "

"Manuel knows the house, and will come first. When he's fairly in theroom shut the door and go for the other. But no noise. This is just oneof the SW-EETEST things out--if it's done properly. "

"But YOU, George?"

"If I couldn't manage that fellow without turning down the bedclothesI'd kick myself. Hush. Steady now. "

He lay down and shut his eyes as if in natural repose. Only his righthand, carelessly placed under his pillow, closed on the handle of hispistol. Falkner quietly slipped into the passage. The light of thecandle faintly illuminated the floor and opposite wall, but left it oneither side in pitchy obscurity. 

For some moments the silence was broken only by the sound of the rainwithout. The recumbent figure in bed seemed to have actually succumbedto sleep. The multitudinous small noises of a house in repose might havebeen misinterpreted by ears less keen than the sleeper's; but whenthe apparent creaking of a far-off shutter was followed by the slidingapparition of a dark head of tangled hair at the door, Lee had not beendeceived, and was as prepared as if he had seen it. Another step, andthe figure entered the room. The door closed instantly behind it. Thesound of a heavy body struggling against the partition outside followed, and then suddenly ceased. 

The intruder turned, and violently grasped the handle of the door, butrecoiled at a quiet voice from the bed. 

"Drop that, and come here. "

He started back with an exclamation. The sleeper's eyes were wide open;the sleeper's extended arm and pistol covered him. 

"Silence! or I'll let that candle shine through you!"

"Yes, captain!" growled the astounded and frightened half-breed. "Ididn't know you were here. "

Lee raised himself, and grasped the long whip in his left hand andwhirled it round his head. 

"WILL YOU dry up?"

The man sank back against the wall in silent terror. 

"Open that door now--softly. "

Manuel obeyed with trembling fingers. 

"Ned" said Lee in a low voice, "bring him in here--quick. "

There was a slight rustle, and Falkner appeared, backing in anothergasping figure, whose eyes were starting under the strong grasp of thecaptor at his throat. 

"Silence, " said Lee, "all of you. "

There was a breathless pause. The sound of a door hesitatingly openedin the passage broke the stillness, followed by the gentle voice of Mrs. Scott. 

"Is anything the matter?"

Lee made a slight gesture of warning to Falkner, of menace to theothers. "Everything's the matter, " he called out cheerily. "Ned'smanaged to half pull down the house trying to get at something from mysaddle-bags. "

"I hope he has not hurt himself, " broke in another voice mischievously. 

"Answer, you clumsy villain, " whispered Lee, with twinkling eyes. 

"I'm all right, thank you, " responded Falkner, with unaffectedawkwardness. 

There was a slight murmuring of voices, and then the door was heard toclose. Lee turned to Falkner. 

"Disarm that hound and turn him loose outside, and make no noise. Andyou, Manuel! tell him what his and your chances are if he shows hisblack face here again. "

Manuel cast a single, terrified, supplicating glance, more suggestivethan words, at his confederate, as Falkner shoved him before him fromthe room. The next moment they were silently descending the stairs. 

"May I go too, captain?" entreated Manuel. "I swear to God--"

"Shut the door!" The man obeyed. 

"Now, then, " said Lee, with a broad, gratified smile, laying down hiswhip and pistol within reach, and comfortably settling the pillowsbehind his back, "we'll have a quiet confab. A sort of old-fashionedtalk, eh? You're not looking well, Manuel. You're drinking too muchagain. It spoils your complexion. "

"Let me go, captain, " pleaded the man, emboldened by the good-humoredvoice, but not near enough to notice a peculiar light in the speaker'seye. 

"You've only just come, Manuel; and at considerable trouble, too. Well, what have you got to say? What's all this about? What are you doinghere?"

The captured man shuffled his feet nervously, and only uttered an uneasylaugh of coarse discomfiture. 

"I see. You're bashful. Well, I'll help you along. Come! You knew thatHale was away and these women were here without a man to help them. Youthought you'd find some money here, and have your own way generally, eh?"

The tone of Lee's voice inspired him to confidence; unfortunately, itinspired him with familiarity also. 

"I reckoned I had the right to a little fun on my own account, cap. I reckoned ez one gentleman in the profession wouldn't interfere withanother gentleman's little game, " he continued coarsely. 

"Stand up. "

"Wot for?"

"Up, I say!"

Manuel stood up and glanced at him. 

"Utter a cry that might frighten these women, and by the living Godthey'll rush in here only to find you lying dead on the floor of thehouse you'd have polluted. "

He grasped the whip and laid the lash of it heavily twice over theruffian's shoulders. Writhing in suppressed agony, the man fellimploringly on his knees. 

"Now, listen!" said Lee, softly twirling the whip in the air. "I want torefresh your memory. Did you ever learn, when you were with me--beforeI was obliged to kick you out of gentlemen's company--to break into aprivate house? Answer!"

"No, " stammered the wretch. 

"Did you ever learn to rob a woman, a child, or any but a man, and thatface to face?"

"No, " repeated Manuel. 

"Did you ever learn from me to lay a finger upon a woman, old or young, in anger or kindness?"

"No. "

"Then, my poor Manuel, it's as I feared; civilization has ruined you. Farming and a simple, bucolic life have perverted your morals. So youwere running off with the stock and that mustang, when you got stuck inthe snow; and the luminous idea of this little game struck you? Eh? Thatwas another mistake, Manuel; I never allowed you to think when you werewith me. "

"No, captain. "

"Who's your friend?"

"A d--d cowardly nigger from the Summit. "

"I agree with you for once; but he hasn't had a very brilliant example. Where's he gone now?"

"To h-ll, for all I care!"

"Then I want you to go with him. Listen. If there's a way out of theplace, you know it or can find it. I give you two days to do it--you andhe. At the end of that time the order will be to shoot you on sight. Nowtake off your boots. "

The man's dark face visibly whitened, his teeth chattered insuperstitious terror. 

"I'm not going to shoot you now, " said Lee, smiling, "so you will have achance to die with your boots on, * if you are superstitious. I only wantyou to exchange them for that pair of Hale's in the corner. The factis I have taken a fancy to yours. That fashion of wearing the stockingsoutside strikes me as one of the neatest things out. "

 * "To die with one's boots on. " A synonym for death by violence, popular among Southwestern desperadoes, and the subject of superstitious dread. 

Manuel suddenly drew off his boots with their muffled covering, and puton the ones designated. 

"Now open the door. "

He did so. Falkner was already waiting at the threshold, "Turn Manuelloose with the other, Ned, but disarm him first. They might quarrel. Thehabit of carrying arms, Manuel, " added Lee, as Falkner took a pistol andbowie-knife from the half-breed, "is of itself provocative of violence, and inconsistent with a bucolic and pastoral life. "

When Falkner returned he said hurriedly to his companion, "Do you thinkit wise, George, to let those hell-hounds loose? Good God! I couldscarcely let my grip of his throat go, when I thought of what they werehunting. "

"My dear Ned, " said Lee, luxuriously ensconcing himself under thebedclothes again with a slight shiver of delicious warmth, "I must warnyou against allowing the natural pride of a higher walk to prejudice youagainst the general level of our profession. Indeed, I was quite struckwith the justice of Manuel's protest that I was interfering with certainrude processes of his own towards results aimed at by others. "

"George!" interrupted Falkner, almost savagely. 

"Well. I admit it's getting rather late in the evening for purephilosophical inquiry, and you are tired. Practically, then, it WAS wiseto let them get away before they discovered two things. One, our exactrelations here with these women; and the other, HOW MANY of us werehere. At present they think we are three or four in possession and withthe consent of the women. "

"The dogs!"

"They are paying us the highest compliment they can conceive of bysupposing us cleverer scoundrels than themselves. You are very unjust, Ned. "

"If they escape and tell their story?"

"We shall have the rare pleasure of knowing we are better than peoplebelieve us. And now put those boots away somewhere where we can producethem if necessary, as evidence of Manuel's evening call. At presentwe'll keep the thing quiet, and in the early morning you can find outwhere they got in and remove any traces they have left. It is no use tofrighten the women. There's no fear of their returning. "

"And if they get away?"

"We can follow in their tracks. "

"If Manuel gives the alarm?"

"With his burglarious boots left behind in the house? Not much!Good-night, Ned. Go to bed. "

With these words Lee turned on his side and quietly resumed hisinterrupted slumber. Falkner did not, however, follow this sensibleadvice. When he was satisfied that his friend was sleeping he opened thedoor softly and looked out. He did not appear to be listening, forhis eyes were fixed upon a small pencil of light that stole across thepassage from the foot of Kate's door. He watched it until it suddenlydisappeared, when, leaving the door partly open, he threw himself onhis couch without removing his clothes. The slight movement awakenedthe sleeper, who was beginning to feel the accession of fever. He movedrestlessly. 

"George, " said Falkner, softly. 

"Yes. "

"Where was it we passed that old Mission Church on the road one darknight, and saw the light burning before the figure of the Virgin throughthe window?"

There was a moment of crushing silence. "Does that mean you're wantingto light the candle again?"

"No. "

"Then don't lie there inventing sacrilegious conundrums, but go tosleep. "

Nevertheless, in the morning his fever was slightly worse. Mrs. Hale, offering her condolence, said, "I know that you have not been restingwell, for even after your friend met with that mishap in the hall, Iheard your voices, and Kate says your door was open all night. You havea little fever too, Mr. Falkner. "

George looked curiously at Falkner's pale face--it was burning. 

CHAPTER V

The speed and fury with which Clinch's cavalcade swept on in thedirection of the mysterious shot left Hale no chance for reflection. Hewas conscious of shouting incoherently with the others, of urging hishorse irresistibly forward, of momentarily expecting to meet or overtakesomething, but without any further thought. The figures of Clinch andRawlins immediately before him shut out the prospect of the narrowingtrail. Once only, taking advantage of a sudden halt that threw themconfusedly together, he managed to ask a question. 

"Lost their track--found it again!" shouted the ostler, as Clinch, witha cry like the baying of a hound, again darted forward. Their horseswere panting and trembling under them, the ascent seemed to be growingsteeper, a singular darkness, which even the density of the wood did notsufficiently account for, surrounded them, but still their leadermadly urged them on. To Hale's returning senses they did not seem in acondition to engage a single resolute man, who might have ambushed inthe woods or beaten them in detail in the narrow gorge, but in anotherinstant the reason of their furious haste was manifest. Spurring hishorse ahead, Clinch dashed out into the open with a cheering shout--ashout that as quickly changed to a yell of imprecation. They were onthe Ridge in a blinding snow-storm! The road had already vanished undertheir feet, and with it the fresh trail they had so closely followed!They stood helplessly on the shore of a trackless white sea, blank andspotless of any trace or sign of the fugitives. 

"'Pears to me, boys, " said the ostler, suddenly ranging before them, "ef you're not kalkilatin' on gittin' another party to dig ye out, ye'dbetter be huntin' fodder and cover instead of road agents. 'Skuse me, gentlemen, but I'm responsible for the hosses, and this ain't no timefor circus-ridin'. We're a matter o' six miles from the station in a beeline. "

"Back to the trail, then, " said Clinch, wheeling his horse towards theroad they had just quitted. 

"'Skuse me, Kernel, " said the ostler, laying his hand on Clinch's rein, "but that way only brings us back the road we kem--the stage road--threemiles further from home. That three miles is on the divide, and by thetime we get there it will be snowed up worse nor this. The shortest cutis along the Ridge. If we hump ourselves we ken cross the divide aforethe road is blocked. And that, 'skuse me, gentlemen, is MY road. "

There was no time for discussion. The road was already palpablythickening under their feet. Hale's arm was stiffened to his side bya wet, clinging snow-wreath. The figures of the others were almostobliterated and shapeless. It was not snowing--it was snowballing! Thehuge flakes, shaken like enormous feathers out of a vast blue-blackcloud, commingled and fell in sprays and patches. All idea of theirformer pursuit was forgotten; the blind rage and enthusiasm that hadpossessed them was gone. They dashed after their new leader with only aninstinct for shelter and succor. 

They had not ridden long when fortunately, as it seemed to Hale, thecharacter of the storm changed. The snow no longer fell in such largeflakes, nor as heavily. A bitter wind succeeded; the soft snow beganto stiffen and crackle under the horses' hoofs; they were no longerweighted and encumbered by the drifts upon their bodies; the smallerflakes now rustled and rasped against them like sand, or bounded fromthem like hail. They seemed to be moving more easily and rapidly, theirspirits were rising with the stimulus of cold and motion, when suddenlytheir leader halted. 

"It's no use, boys. It can't be done! This is no blizzard, but a regulartwo days' snifter! It's no longer meltin', but packin' and driftin'now. Even if we get over the divide, we're sure to be blocked up in thepass. "

It was true! To their bitter disappointment they could now see thatthe snow had not really diminished in quantity, but that the nowfinely-powdered particles were rapidly filling all inequalities ofthe surface, packing closely against projections, and swirling inlong furrows across the levels. They looked with anxiety at theirself-constituted leader. 

"We must make a break to get down in the woods again before it's toolate, " he said briefly. 

But they had already drifted away from the fringe of larches and dwarfpines that marked the sides of the Ridge, and lower down merged intothe dense forest that clothed the flank of the mountain they had latelyclimbed, and it was with the greatest difficulty that they again reachedit, only to find that at that point it was too precipitous for thedescent of their horses. Benumbed and speechless, they continued to toilon, opposed to the full fury of the stinging snow, and at times obligedto turn their horses to the blast to keep from being blown over theRidge. At the end of half an hour the ostler dismounted, and, beckoningto the others, took his horse by the bridle, and began the descent. Whenit came to Hale's turn to dismount he could not help at first recoilingfrom the prospect before him. The trail--if it could be so called--wasmerely the track or furrow of some fallen tree dragged, by accidentor design, diagonally across the sides of the mountain. At times itappeared scarcely a foot in width; at other times a mere crumblinggully, or a narrow shelf made by the projections of dead boughs andcollected debris. It seemed perilous for a foot passenger, it appearedimpossible for a horse. Nevertheless, he had taken a step forward whenClinch laid his hand on his arm. 

"You'll bring up the rear, " he said not unkindly, "ez you're a strangerhere. Wait until we sing out to you. "

"But if I prefer to take the same risks as you all?" said Hale stiffly. 

"You kin, " said Clinch grimly. "But I reckoned, as you wern't familiarwith this sort o' thing, you wouldn't keer, by any foolishness o' yours, to stampede the rocks ahead of us, and break down the trail, or senddown an avalanche on top of us. But just ez you like. "

"I will wait, then, " said Hale hastily. 

The rebuke, however, did him good service. It preoccupied his mind, so that it remained unaffected by the dizzy depths, and enabled himto abandon himself mechanically to the sagacity of his horse, who wascontented simply to follow the hoofprints of the preceding animal, andin a few moments they reached the broader trail without a mishap. Adiscussion regarding their future movements was already taking place. The impossibility of regaining the station at the Summit was admitted;the way down the mountain to the next settlement was still left to them, or the adjacent woods, if they wished for an encampment. The ostler oncemore assumed authority. 

"'Skuse me, gentlemen, but them horses don't take no pasear down themountain to-night. The stage-road ain't a mile off, and I kalkilate towait here till the up stage comes. She's bound to stop on account of thesnow; and I've done my dooty when I hand the horses over to the driver. "

"But if she hears of the block up yer, and waits at the lower station?"said Rawlins. 

"Then I've done my dooty all the same. 'Skuse me, gentlemen, but them ezhez their own horses kin do ez they like. "

As this clearly pointed to Hale, he briefly assured his companions thathe had no intention of deserting them. "If I cannot reach Eagle's Court, I shall at least keep as near it as possible. I suppose any messengerfrom my house to the Summit will learn where I am and why I am delayed?"

"Messenger from your house!" gasped Rawlins. "Are you crazy, stranger?Only a bird would get outer Eagle's now; and it would hev to be an eagleat that! Between your house and the Summit the snow must be ten feet bythis time, to say nothing of the drift in the pass. "

Hale felt it was the truth. At any other time he would have worried overthis unexpected situation, and utter violation of all his traditions. He was past that now, and even felt a certain relief. He knew hisfamily were safe; it was enough. That they were locked up securely, and incapable of interfering with HIM, seemed to enhance his new, half-conscious, half-shy enjoyment of an adventurous existence. 

The ostler, who had been apparently lost in contemplation of the steeptrail he had just descended, suddenly clapped his hand to his leg withan ejaculation of gratified astonishment. 

"Waal, darn my skin ef that ain't Hennicker's 'slide' all the time! Iheard it was somewhat about here. "

Rawlins briefly explained to Hale that a slide was a rude incline forthe transit of heavy goods that could not be carried down a trail. 

"And Hennicker's, " continued the man, "ain't more nor a mile away. Yemight try Hennicker's at a push, eh?"

By a common instinct the whole party looked dubiously at Hale. "Who'sHennicker?" he felt compelled to ask. 

The ostler hesitated, and glanced at the others to reply. "There AREfolks, " he said lazily, at last, "ez beleeves that Hennicker ain't muchbetter nor the crowd we're hunting; but they don't say it TO Hennicker. We needn't let on what we're after. "

"I for one, " said Hale stoutly, "decidedly object to any concealment ofour purpose. "

"It don't follow, " said Rawlins carelessly, "that Hennicker even knowsof this yer robbery. It's his gineral gait we refer to. Ef yer think itmore polite, and it makes it more sociable to discuss this matter aforehim, I'm agreed. "

"Hale means, " said Clinch, "that it wouldn't be on the square to takeand make use of any points we might pick up there agin the road agents. "

"Certainly, " said Hale. It was not at all what he had meant, but he feltsingularly relieved at the compromise. 

"And ez I reckon Hennicker ain't such a fool ez not to know who we areand what we're out for, " continued Clinch, "I reckon there ain't anyconcealment. "

"Then it's Hennicker's?" said the ostler, with swift deduction. 

"Hennicker's it is! Lead on. "

The ostler remounted his horse, and the others followed. The trailpresently turned into a broader track, that bore some signs ofapproaching habitations, and at the end of five minutes they came upona clearing. It was part of one of the fragmentary mountain terraces, andformed by itself a vast niche, or bracketed shelf, in the hollow flankof the mountain that, to Hale's first glance, bore a rude resemblanceto Eagle's Court. But there was neither meadow nor open field; the fewacres of ground had been wrested from the forest by axe and fire, andunsightly stumps everywhere marked the rude and difficult attempts atcultivation. Two or three rough buildings of unplaned and unpaintedboards, connected by rambling sheds, stood in the centre of theamphitheatre. Far from being protected by the encircling rampart, itseemed to be the selected arena for the combating elements. A whirlwindfrom the outer abyss continually filled this cave of AEolus with drivingsnow, which, however, melted as it fell, or was quickly whirled awayagain. 

A few dogs barked and ran out to meet the cavalcade, but there was noother sign of any life disturbed or concerned at their approach. 

"I reckon Hennicker ain't home, or he'd hev been on the lookout aforethis, " said the ostler, dismounting and rapping on the door. 

After a silence, a female voice, unintelligibly to the others, apparently had some colloquy with the ostler, who returned to the party. 

"Must go in through the kitchin--can't open the door for the wind. "

Leaving their horses in the shed, they entered the kitchen, whichcommunicated, and presently came upon a square room filled with smokefrom a fire of green pine logs. The doors and windows were tightlyfastened; the only air came in through the large-throated chimney involuminous gusts, which seemed to make the hollow shell of the apartmentswell and expand to the point of bursting. Despite the stinging of theresinous smoke, the temperature was grateful to the benumbed travellers. Several cushionless arm-chairs, such as were used in bar-rooms, twotables, a sideboard, half bar and half cupboard, and a rocking-chaircomprised the furniture, and a few bear and buffalo skins coveredthe floor. Hale sank into one of the arm-chairs, and, with a lazysatisfaction, partly born of his fatigue and partly from somenewly-discovered appreciative faculty, gazed around the room, and thenat the mistress of the house, with whom the others were talking. 

She was tall, gaunt, and withered; in spite of her evident years, hertwisted hair was still dark and full, and her eyes bright and piercing;her complexion and teeth had long since succumbed to the vitiatingeffects of frontier cookery, and her lips were stained with the yellowjuice of a brier-wood pipe she held in her mouth. The ostler hadexplained their intrusion, and veiled their character under the vagueepithet of a "hunting party, " and was now evidently describing thempersonally. In his new-found philosophy the fact that the interest ofhis hostess seemed to be excited only by the names of his companions, that he himself was carelessly, and even deprecatingly, alluded to asthe "stranger from Eagle's" by the ostler, and completely overlooked bythe old woman, gave him no concern. 

"You'll have to talk to Zenobia yourself. Dod rot ef I'm gine tointerfere. She knows Hennicker's ways, and if she chooses to take intransients it ain't no funeral o' mine. Zeenie! You, Zeenie! Look yer!"

A tall, lazy-looking, handsome girl appeared on the threshold of thenext room, and with a hand on each door-post slowly swung herselfbackwards and forwards, without entering. "Well, Maw?"

The old woman briefly and unalluringly pictured the condition of thetravellers. 

"Paw ain't here, " began the girl doubtfully, "and--How dy, Dick! is thatyou?" The interruption was caused by her recognition of the ostler, andshe lounged into the room. In spite of a skimp, slatternly gown, whosestraight skirt clung to her lower limbs, there was a quaint, nymph-likecontour to her figure. Whether from languor, ill-health, or moreprobably from a morbid consciousness of her own height, she moved witha slightly affected stoop that had become a habit. It did not seemungraceful to Hale, already attracted by her delicate profile, herlarge dark eyes, and a certain weird resemblance she had to somehalf-domesticated dryad. 

"That'll do, Maw, " she said, dismissing her parent with a nod. "I'lltalk to Dick. "

As the door closed on the old woman, Zenobia leaned her hands onthe back of a chair, and confronted the admiring eyes of Dick with agoddess-like indifference. 

"Now wot's the use of your playin' this yer game on me, Dick? Wot's thegood of your ladlin' out that hogwash about huntin'? HUNTIN'! I'll tellyer the huntin' you-uns hev been at! You've been huntin' George Leeand his boys since an hour before sun up. You've been followin' a blindtrail up to the Ridge, until the snow got up and hunted YOU right here!You've been whoopin' and yellin' and circus-ridin' on the roads likeez yer wos Comanches, and frightening all the women folk withinmiles--that's your huntin'! You've been climbin' down Paw's old slideat last, and makin' tracks for here to save the skins of them condemnedgovernment horses of the Kempany! And THAT'S your huntin'!"

To Hale's surprise, a burst of laughter from the party followed thisspeech. He tried to join in, but this ridiculous summary of the resultof his enthusiastic sense of duty left him--the only earnest believermortified and embarrassed. Nor was he the less concerned as he found thegirl's dark eyes had rested once or twice upon him curiously. Zenobialaughed too, and, lazily turning the chair around, dropped into it. "Andby this time George Lee's loungin' back in his chyar and smokin' hiscigyar somewhar in Sacramento, " she added, stretching her feet out tothe fire, and suiting the action to the word with an imaginary cigarbetween the long fingers of a thin and not over-clean hand. 

"We cave, Zeenie!" said Rawlins, when their hilarity had subsided to amore subdued and scarcely less flattering admiration of the unconcernedgoddess before them. "That's about the size of it. You kin rake down thepile. I forgot you're an old friend of George's. "

"He's a white man!" said the girl decidedly. 

"Ye used to know him?" continued Rawlins. 

"Once. Paw ain't in that line now, " she said simply. 

There was such a sublime unconsciousness of any moral degradationinvolved in this allusion that even Hale accepted it without a shock. She rose presently, and, going to the little sideboard, brought outa number of glasses; these she handed to each of the party, and then, producing a demijohn of whiskey, slung it dexterously and gracefullyover her arm, so that it rested on her elbow like a cradle, and, goingto each one in succession, filled their glasses. It obliged each one torise to accept the libation, and as Hale did so in his turn he met thedark eyes of the girl full on his own. There was a pleased curiosity inher glance that made this married man of thirty-five color as awkwardlyas a boy. 

The tender of refreshment being understood as a tacit recognition oftheir claims to a larger hospitality, all further restraint was removed. Zenobia resumed her seat, and placing her elbow on the arm of her chair, and her small round chin in her hand, looked thoughtfully in the fire. "When I say George Lee's a white man, it ain't because I know him. It's his general gait. Wot's he ever done that's underhanded or mean?Nothin'! You kant show the poor man he's ever took a picayune from. Whenhe's helped himself to a pile it's been outer them banks or them expresscompanies, that think it mighty fine to bust up themselves, and swindlethe poor folks o' their last cent, and nobody talks o' huntin' THEM!And does he keep their money? No; he passes it round among the boys thathelp him, and they put it in circulation. HE don't keep it for himself;he ain't got fine houses in Frisco; he don't keep fast horses for show. Like ez not the critter he did that job with--ef it was him--none ofyou boys would have rid! And he takes all the risks himself; you ken betyour life that every man with him was safe and away afore he turned hisback on you-uns. "

"He certainly drops a little of his money at draw poker, Zeenie, " saidClinch, laughing. "He lost five thousand dollars to Sheriff Kelly lastweek. "

"Well, I don't hear of the sheriff huntin' him to give it back, nor doI reckon Kelly handed it over to the Express it was taken from. I heardYOU won suthin' from him a spell ago. I reckon you've been huntin' himto find out whar you should return it. " The laugh was clearly againstClinch. He was about to make some rallying rejoinder when the young girlsuddenly interrupted him. "Ef you're wantin' to hunt somebody, why don'tyou take higher game? Thar's that Jim Harkins: go for him, and I'll joinyou. "

"Harkins!" exclaimed Clinch and Hale simultaneously. 

"Yes, Jim Harkins; do you know him?" she said, glancing from one to theother. 

"One of my friends do, " said Clinch laughing; "but don't let that stopyou. "

"And YOU--over there, " continued Zenobia, bending her head and eyestowards Hale. 

"The fact is--I believe he was my banker, " said Hale, with a smile. "Idon't know him personally. "

"Then you'd better hunt him before he does you. "

"What's HE done, Zeenie?" asked Rawlins, keenly enjoying thediscomfiture of the others. 

"What?" She stopped, threw her long black braids over her shoulder, clasped her knee with her hands, and rocking backwards and forwards, sublimely unconscious of the apparition of a slim ankle andhalf-dropped-off slipper from under her shortened gown, continued, "Itmightn't please HIM, " she said slyly, nodding towards Hale. 

"Pray don't mind me, " said Hale, with unnecessary eagerness. 

"Well, " said Zenobia, "I reckon you all know Ned Falkner and theExcelsior Ditch?"

"Yes, Falkner's the superintendent of it, " said Rawlins. "And a squareman too. Thar ain't anything mean about him. "

"Shake, " said Zenobia, extending her hand. Rawlins shook the profferedhand with eager spontaneousness, and the girl resumed: "He's aboutez good ez they make 'em--you bet. Well, you know Ned has put all hismoney, and all his strength, and all his sabe, and--"

"His good looks, " added Clinch mischievously. 

"Into that Ditch, " continued Zenobia, ignoring the interruption. "It'shis mother, it's his sweetheart, it's his everything! When other chapsof his age was cavortin' round Frisco, and havin' high jinks, Ned was inhis Ditch. 'Wait till the Ditch is done, ' he used to say. 'Wait till shebegins to boom, and then you just stand round. ' Mor'n that, he got allthe boys to put in their last cent--for they loved Ned, and love himnow, like ez ef he wos a woman. "

"That's so, " said Clinch and Rawlins simultaneously, "and he's worthit. "

"Well, " continued Zenobia, "the Ditch didn't boom ez soon ez theykalkilated. And then the boys kept gettin' poorer and poorer, and Nedhe kept gettin' poorer and poorer in everything but his hopefulness andgrit. Then he looks around for more capital. And about this time, thatcoyote Harkins smelt suthin' nice up there, and he gits Ned to give himcontrol of it, and he'll lend him his name and fix up a company. Soon ezhe gets control, the first thing he does is to say that it wants half amillion o' money to make it pay, and levies an assessment of two hundreddollars a share. That's nothin' for them rich fellows to pay, or pretendto pay, but for boys on grub wages it meant only ruin. They couldn'tpay, and had to forfeit their shares for next to nothing. And Ned madeone more desperate attempt to save them and himself by borrowing moneyon his shares; when that hound Harkins got wind of it, and let it bebuzzed around that the Ditch is a failure, and that he was goin' outof it; that brought the shares down to nothing. As Ned couldn't raisea dollar, the new company swooped down on his shares for the debts THEYhad put up, and left him and the boys to help themselves. Ned couldn'tbear to face the boys that he'd helped to ruin, and put out, and ain'tbeen heard from since. After Harkins had got rid of Ned and the boyshe manages to pay off that wonderful debt, and sells out for a hundredthousand dollars. That money--Ned's money--he sends to Sacramento, forhe don't dare to travel with it himself, and is kalkilatin' to leave thekentry, for some of the boys allow to kill him on sight. So ef you'rewantin' to hunt suthin', thar's yer chance, and you needn't go inter thesnow to do it. "

"But surely the law can recover this money?" said Hale indignantly. "Itis as infamous a robbery as--" He stopped as he caught Zenobia's eye. 

"Ez last night's, you were goin' to say. I'll call it MORE. Them roadagents don't pretend to be your friend--but take yer money and run theirrisks. For ez to the law--that can't help yer. "

"It's a skin game, and you might ez well expect to recover a gamblingdebt from a short-card sharp, " explained Clinch; "Falkner oughter shothim on sight. "

"Or the boys lynched him, " suggested Rawlins. 

"I think, " said Hale, more reflectively, "that in the absence of legalremedy a man of that kind should have been forced under strong physicalmenace to give up his ill-gotten gains. The money was the primaryobject, and if that could be got without bloodshed--which seems to me auseless crime--it would be quite as effective. Of course, if there wasresistance or retaliation, it might be necessary to kill him. "

He had unconsciously fallen into his old didactic and dogmatic habit ofspeech, and perhaps, under the spur of Zenobia's eyes, he had givenit some natural emphasis. A dead silence followed, in which the othersregarded him with amused and gratified surprise, and it was broken onlyby Zenobia rising and holding out her hand. "Shake!"

Hale raised it gallantly, and pressed his lips on the one spotlessfinger. 

"That's gospel truth. And you ain't the first white man to say it. "

"Indeed, " laughed Hale. "Who was the other?"

"George Lee!"

CHAPTER VI

The laughter that followed was interrupted by a sudden barking ofthe dogs in the outer clearing. Zenobia rose lazily and strode to thewindow. It relieved Hale of certain embarrassing reflections suggestedby her comment. 

"Ef it ain't that God-forsaken fool Dick bringing up passengers fromthe snow-bound up stage in the road! I reckon I'VE got suthin' to sayto that!" But the later appearance of the apologetic Dick, with theassurance that the party carried a permission from her father, grantedat the lower station in view of such an emergency, checked her activeopposition. "That's like Paw, " she soliloquized aggrievedly; "shuttin'us up and settin' dogs on everybody for a week, and then lettin' thewhole stage service pass through one door and out at another. Well, it'sHIS house and HIS whiskey, and they kin take it, but they don't get meto help 'em. "

They certainly were not a prepossessing or good-natured acquisition tothe party. Apart from the natural antagonism which, on such occasions, those in possession always feel towards the new-comer, they werestrongly inclined to resist the dissatisfied querulousness andaggressive attitude of these fresh applicants for hospitality. The mostoffensive one was a person who appeared to exercise some authority overthe others. He was loud, assuming, and dressed with vulgar pretension. He quickly disposed himself in the chair vacated by Zenobia, and calledfor some liquor. 

"I reckon you'll hev to help yourself, " said Rawlins dryly, as thesummons met with no response. "There are only two women in the house, and I reckon their hands are full already. "

"I call it d--d uncivil treatment, " said the man, raising his voice;"and Hennicker had better sing smaller if he don't want his old denpulled down some day. He ain't any better than men that hev been pickedup afore now. "

"You oughter told him that, and mebbe he'd hev come over with yer, "returned Rawlins. "He's a mild, soft, easy-going man, is Hennicker!Ain't he, Colonel Clinch?"

The casual mention of Clinch's name produced the effect which thespeaker probably intended. The stranger stared at Clinch, who, apparently oblivious of the conversation, was blinking his cold grayeyes at the fire. Dropping his aggressive tone to mere querulousness, the man sought the whiskey demijohn, and helped himself and hiscompanions. Fortified by liquor he returned to the fire. 

"I reckon you've heard about this yer robbery, Colonel, " he said, addressing Clinch, with an attempt at easy familiarity. 

Without raising his eyes from the fire, Clinch briefly assented, "Ireckon. "

"I'm up yer, examining into it, for the Express. "

"Lost much?" asked Rawlins. 

"Not so much ez they might hev. That fool Harkins had a hundred thousanddollars in greenbacks sealed up like an ordinary package of a thousanddollars, and gave it to a friend, Bill Guthrie, in the bank to pick outsome unlikely chap among the passengers to take charge of it to Reno. Hewouldn't trust the Express. Ha! ha!"

The dead, oppressive silence that followed his empty laughter made itseem almost artificial. Rawlins held his breath and looked at Clinch. Hale, with the instincts of a refined, sensitive man, turned hot withthe embarrassment Clinch should have shown. For that gentleman, withoutlifting his eyes from the fire, and with no apparent change in hisdemeanor, lazily asked--

"Ye didn't ketch the name o' that passenger?"

"Naturally, no! For when Guthrie heard what was said agin him hewouldn't give his name until he heard from him. "

"And WHAT was said agin him?" asked Clinch musingly. 

"What would be said agin a man that give up that sum o' money, like achaw of tobacco, for the asking? Why, there were but three men, as farez we kin hear, that did the job. And there were four passengers inside, armed, and the driver and express messenger on the box. Six were robbedby THREE!--they were a sweet-scented lot! Reckon they must hev feltmighty small, for I hear they got up and skedaddled from the stationunder the pretext of lookin' for the robbers. " He laughed again, and thelaugh was noisily repeated by his five companions at the other end ofthe room. 

Hale, who had forgotten that the stranger was only echoing a part ofhis own criticism of eight hours before, was on the point of rising withburning cheeks and angry indignation, when the lazily uplifted eye ofClinch caught his, and absolutely held him down with its paralyzing anddeadly significance. Murder itself seemed to look from those cruellyquiet and remorseless gray pupils. For a moment he forgot his own ragein this glimpse of Clinch's implacable resentment; for a moment hefelt a thrill of pity for the wretch who had provoked it. He remainedmotionless and fascinated in his chair as the lazy lids closed like asheath over Clinch's eyes again. Rawlins, who had probably received thesame glance of warning, remained equally still. 

"They haven't heard the last of it yet, you bet, " continued theinfatuated stranger. "I've got a little statement here for thenewspaper, " he added, drawing some papers from his pocket; "suthin' Ijust run off in the coach as I came along. I reckon it'll show things upin a new light. It's time there should be some change. All the cussin'that's been usually done hez been by the passengers agin the express andstage companies. I propose that the Company should do a little cussin'themselves. See? P'r'aps you don't mind my readin' it to ye? It's justspicy enough to suit them newspaper chaps. "

"Go on, " said Colonel Clinch quietly. 

The man cleared his throat, with the preliminary pose of authorship, andhis five friends, to whom the composition was evidently not unfamiliar, assumed anticipatory smiles. 

"I call it 'Prize Pusillanimous Passengers. ' Sort of runs easy off thetongue, you know. 

"'It now appears that the success of the late stagecoach robbery nearthe Summit was largely due to the pusillanimity--not to use a moreserious word'"--He stopped, and looked explanatorily towards Clinch:"Ye'll see in a minit what I'm gettin' at by that pusillanimity of thepassengers themselves. 'It now transpires that there were only threerobbers who attacked the coach, and that although passengers, driver, and express messenger were fully armed, and were double the number oftheir assailants, not a shot was fired. We mean no reflections uponthe well-known courage of Yuba Bill, nor the experience and coolness ofBracy Tibbetts, the courteous express messenger, both of whom havesince confessed to have been more than astonished at the Christian andlamb-like submission of the insiders. Amusing stories of some laughableyet sickening incidents of the occasion--such as grown men kneeling inthe road, and offering to strip themselves completely, if their liveswere only spared; of one of the passengers hiding under the seat, andonly being dislodged by pulling his coat-tails; of incredible sumspromised, and even offers of menial service, for the preservation oftheir wretched carcases--are received with the greatest gusto; but weare in possession of facts which may lead to more serious accusations. Although one of the passengers is said to have lost a large sum ofmoney intrusted to him, while attempting with barefaced effrontery toestablish a rival "carrying" business in one of the Express Company'sown coaches--'I call that a good point. " He interrupted himself to allowthe unrestrained applause of his own party. "Don't you?"

"It's just h-ll, " said Clinch musingly. 

"'Yet the affair, " resumed the stranger from his manuscript, "'is lockedup in great and suspicious mystery. The presence of Jackson N. Stanner, Esq. ' (that's me), 'special detective agent to the Company, and hisstaff in town, is a guaranty that the mystery will be thoroughlyprobed. ' Hed to put that in to please the Company, " he againdeprecatingly explained. "'We are indebted to this gentleman for thefacts. '"

"The pint you want to make in that article, " said Clinch, rising, butstill directing his face and his conversation to the fire, "ez far ez Iken see ez that no three men kin back down six unless they be cowards, or are willing to be backed down. "

"That's the point what I start from, " rejoined Stanner, "and work up. Ileave it to you ef it ain't so. "

"I can't say ez I agree with you, " said the Colonel dryly. He turned, and still without lifting his eyes walked towards the door of the roomwhich Zenobia had entered. The key was on the inside, but Clinch gentlyopened the door, removed the key, and closing the door again lockedit from his side. Hale and Rawlins felt their hearts beat quickly; theothers followed Clinch's slow movements and downcast mien with amusedcuriosity. After locking the other outlet from the room, and putting thekeys in his pocket, Clinch returned to the fire. For the first time helifted his eyes; the man nearest him shrank back in terror. 

"I am the man, " he said slowly, taking deliberate breath between hissentences, "who gave up those greenbacks to the robbers. I am one of thethree passengers you have lampooned in that paper, and these gentlemenbeside me are the other two. " He stopped and looked around him. "Youdon't believe that three men can back down six! Well, I'll show you howit can be done. More than that, I'll show you how ONE man can do it;for, by the living G-d, if you don't hand over that paper I'll kill youwhere you sit! I'll give you until I count ten; if one of you moves heand you are dead men--but YOU first!"

Before he had finished speaking Hale and Rawlins had both risen, as ifin concert, with their weapons drawn. Hale could not tell how or whyhe had done so, but he was equally conscious, without knowing why, offixing his eye on one of the other party, and that he should, in theevent of an affray, try to kill him. He did not attempt to reason;he only knew that he should do his best to kill that man and perhapsothers. 

"One, " said Clinch, lifting his derringer, "two--three--"

"Look here, Colonel--I swear I didn't know it was you. Come--d--m it!I say--see here, " stammered Stanner, with white cheeks, not daring toglance for aid to his stupefied party. 

"Four--five--six--"

"Wait! Here!" He produced the paper and threw it on the floor. 

"Pick it up and hand it to me. Seven--eight--"

Stanner hastily scrambled to his feet, picked up the paper, and handedit to the Colonel. "I was only joking, Colonel, " he said, with a forcedlaugh. 

"I'm glad to hear it. But as this joke is in black and white, youwouldn't mind saying so in the same fashion. Take that pen and inkand write as I dictate. 'I certify that I am satisfied that the abovestatement is a base calumny against the characters of Ringwood Clinch, Robert Rawlins, and John Hale, passengers, and that I do herebyapologize to the same. ' Sign it. That'll do. Now let the rest of yourparty sign as witnesses. "

They complied without hesitation; some, seizing the opportunity oftreating the affair as a joke, suggested a drink. 

"Excuse me, " said Clinch quietly, "but ez this house ain't big enoughfor me and that man, and ez I've got business at Wild Cat Station withthis paper, I think I'll go without drinkin'. " He took the keys from hispocket, unlocked the doors, and taking up his overcoat and rifle turnedas if to go. 

Rawlins rose to follow him; Hale alone hesitated. The rapid occurrencesof the last half hour gave him no time for reflection. But he was byno means satisfied of the legality of the last act he had aided andabetted, although he admitted its rude justice, and felt he would havedone so again. A fear of this, and an instinct that he might be led intofurther complications if he continued to identify himself with Clinchand Rawlins; the fact that they had professedly abandoned their quest, and that it was really supplanted by the presence of an authorizedparty whom they had already come in conflict with--all this urged him toremain behind. On the other hand, the apparent desertion of his comradesat the last moment was opposed both to his sense of honor and the likinghe had taken to them. But he reflected that he had already shown hisactive partisanship, that he could be of little service to them at WildCat Station, and would be only increasing the distance from his home;and above all, an impatient longing for independent action finallydecided him. "I think I'll stay here, " he said to Clinch, "unless youwant me. "

Clinch cast a swift and meaning glance at the enemy, but lookedapproval. "Keep your eyes skinned, and you're good for a dozen of 'em, "he said sotto voce, and then turned to Stanner. "I'm going to take thispaper to Wild Cat. If you want to communicate with me hereafter you knowwhere I am to be found, unless"--he smiled grimly--"you'd like to see meoutside for a few minutes before I go?"

"It is a matter that concerns the Stage Company, not me, " said Stanner, with an attempt to appear at his ease. 

Hale accompanied Clinch and Rawlins through the kitchen to the stables. The ostler, Dick, had already returned to the rescue of the snow-boundcoach. 

"I shouldn't like to leave many men alone with that crowd, " said Clinch, pressing Hale's hand; "and I wouldn't have allowed your staying behindef I didn't know I could bet my pile on you. Your offerin' to stay justputs a clean finish on it. Look yer, Hale, I didn't cotton much to youat first; but ef you ever want a friend, call on Ringwood Clinch. "

"The same here, old man, " said Rawlins, extending his hand as heappeared from a hurried conference with the old woman at the woodshed, "and trust to Zeenie to give you a hint ef there's anythin' underhandedgoin' on. So long. "

Half inclined to resent this implied suggestion of protection, yet halfpleased at the idea of a confidence with the handsome girl he had seen, Hale returned to the room. A whispered discussion among the party ceasedon his entering, and an awkward silence followed, which Hale did notattempt to break as he quietly took his seat again by the fire. Hewas presently confronted by Stanner, who with an affectation of easyfamiliarity crossed over to the hearth. 

"The old Kernel's d--d peppery and high toned when he's got a littlemore than his reg'lar three fingers o' corn juice, eh?"

"I must beg you to understand distinctly, Mr. Stanner, " said Hale, witha return of his habitual precision of statement, "that I regard anyslighting allusion to the gentleman who has just left not only as inexceedingly bad taste coming from YOU, but very offensive to myself. Ifyou mean to imply that he was under the influence of liquor, it ismy duty to undeceive you; he was so perfectly in possession of hisfaculties as to express not only his own but MY opinion of your conduct. You must also admit that he was discriminating enough to show hisobjection to your company by leaving it. I regret that circumstances donot make it convenient for me to exercise that privilege; but if I amobliged to put up with your presence in this room, I strongly insistthat it is not made unendurable with the addition of your conversation. "

The effect of this deliberate and passionless declaration was morediscomposing to the party than Clinch's fury. Utterly unaccustomed tothe ideas and language suddenly confronting them, they were unable todetermine whether it was the real expression of the speaker, or whetherit was a vague badinage or affectation to which any reply would involvethem in ridicule. In a country terrorized by practical joking, they didnot doubt but that this was a new form of hoaxing calculated to provokesome response that would constitute them as victims. The immediateeffect upon them was that complete silence in regard to himself thatHale desired. They drew together again and conversed in whispers, whileHale, with his eyes fixed on the fire, gave himself up to somewhat lateand useless reflection. 

He could scarcely realize his position. For however he might look at it, within a space of twelve hours he had not only changed some of his mostcherished opinions, but he had acted in accordance with that change ina way that made it seem almost impossible for him ever to recant. In theinterests of law and order he had engaged in an unlawful and disorderlypursuit of criminals, and had actually come in conflict not with thecriminals, but with the only party apparently authorized to pursue them. More than that, he was finding himself committed to a certain sympathywith the criminals. Twenty-four hours ago, if anyone had told him thathe would have condoned an illegal act for its abstract justice, orassisted to commit an illegal act for the same purpose, he would havefelt himself insulted. That he knew he would not now feel it as aninsult perplexed him still more. In these circumstances the fact that hewas separated from his family, and as it were from all his past life andtraditions, by a chance accident, did not disturb him greatly; indeed, he was for the first time a little doubtful of their probable criticismon his inconsistency, and was by no means in a hurry to subject himselfto it. 

Lifting his eyes, he was suddenly aware that the door leading to thekitchen was slowly opening. He had thought he heard it creak once ortwice during his deliberate reply to Stanner. It was evidently movingnow so as to attract his attention, without disturbing the others. Itpresently opened sufficiently wide to show the face of Zeenie, who, witha gesture of caution towards his companions, beckoned him to join her. He rose carelessly as if going out, and, putting on his hat, enteredthe kitchen as the retreating figure of the young girl glided lightlytowards the stables. She ascended a few open steps as if to a hay-loft, but stopped before a low door. Pushing it open, she preceded him intoa small room, apparently under the roof, which scarcely allowed her tostand upright. By the light of a stable lantern hanging from a beam hesaw that, though poorly furnished, it bore some evidence of femininetaste and habitation. Motioning to the only chair, she seated herself onthe edge of the bed, with her hands clasping her knees in her familiarattitude. Her face bore traces of recent agitation, and her eyes wereshining with tears. By the closer light of the lantern he was surprisedto find it was from laughter. 

"I reckoned you'd be right lonely down there with that Stanner crowd, particklerly after that little speech o' your'n, so I sez to Maw I'd getyou up yer for a spell. Maw and I heerd you exhort 'em! Maw allowed youwoz talkin' a furrin' tongue all along, but I--sakes alive!--I hed tohump myself to keep from bustin' into a yell when yer jist drawed themWebster-unabridged sentences on 'em. " She stopped and rocked backwardsand forwards with a laugh that, subdued by the proximity of the roof andthe fear of being overheard, was by no means unmusical. "I'll tell yewhot got me, though! That part commencing, 'Suckamstances over whichI've no controul. '"

"Oh, come! I didn't say that, " interrupted Hale, laughing. 

"'Don't make it convenient for me to exercise the privilege of kickin'yer out to that extent, '" she continued; "'but if I cannot dispense withyour room, the least I can say is that it's a d--d sight better thanyour company--'or suthin' like that! And then the way you minded yourstops, and let your voice rise and fall just ez easy ez if you wos aFirst Reader in large type. Why, the Kernel wasn't nowhere. HIS cussin'didn't come within a mile o' yourn. That Stanner jist turned yaller. "

"I'm afraid you are laughing at me, " said Hale, not knowing whether tobe pleased or vexed at the girl's amusement. 

"I reckon I'm the only one that dare do it, then, " said the girl simply. "The Kernel sez the way you turned round after he'd done his cussin', and said yer believed you'd stay and take the responsibility of thewhole thing--and did, in that kam, soft, did-anybody-speak-to-mestyle--was the neatest thing he'd seen yet. No! Maw says I ain't much onmanners, but I know a man when I see him. "

For an instant Hale gave himself up to the delicious flattery ofunexpected, unintended, and apparently uninterested compliment. Becomingat last a little embarrassed under the frank curiosity of the girl'sdark eyes, he changed the subject. 

"Do you always come up here through the stables?" he asked, glancinground the room, which was evidently her own. 

"I reckon, " she answered half abstractedly. "There's a ladder down tharto Maw's room"--pointing to a trapdoor beside the broad chimney thatserved as a wall--"but it's handier the other way, and nearer the bossesif you want to get away quick. "

This palpable suggestion--borne out by what he remembered of the otherdomestic details--that the house had been planned with reference tosudden foray or escape reawakened his former uneasy reflections. Zeenie, who had been watching his face, added, "It's no slouch, when b'ar orpainters hang round nights and stampede the stock, to be able to swingyourself on to a boss whenever you hear a row going on outside. "

"Do you mean that YOU--"

"Paw USED, and I do NOW, sense I've come into the room. " She pointedto a nondescript garment, half cloak, half habit, hanging on the wall. "I've been outer bed and on Pitchpine's back as far ez the trail fiveminutes arter I heard the first bellow. "

Hale regarded her with undisguised astonishment. There was nothing atall Amazonian or horsey in her manners, nor was there even therobust physical contour that might have been developed through suchexperiences. On the contrary, she seemed to be lazily effeminate in bodyand mind. Heedless of his critical survey of her, she beckoned him todraw his chair nearer, and, looking into his eyes, said--

"Whatever possessed YOU to take to huntin' men?"

Hale was staggered by the question, but nevertheless endeavored toexplain. But he was surprised to find that his explanation appearedstilted even to himself, and, he could not doubt, was utterlyincomprehensible to the girl. She nodded her head, however, andcontinued--

"Then you haven't anythin' agin' George?"

"I don't know George, " said Hale, smiling. "My proceeding was againstthe highwayman. "

"Well, HE was the highwayman. "

"I mean, it was the principle I objected to--a principle that I considerhighly dangerous. "

"Well HE is the principal, for the others only HELPED, I reckon, " saidZeenie with a sigh, "and I reckon he IS dangerous. "

Hale saw it was useless to explain. The girl continued--

"What made you stay here instead of going on with the Kernel? There wassuthin' else besides your wanting to make that Stanner take water. Whatis it?"

A light sense of the propinquity of beauty, of her confidence, of theirisolation, of the eloquence of her dark eyes, at first tempted Hale toa reply of simple gallantry; a graver consideration of the samecircumstances froze it upon his lips. 

"I don't know, " he returned awkwardly. 

"Well, I'll tell you, " she said. "You didn't cotton to the Kernel andRawlins much more than you did to Stanner. They ain't your kind. "

In his embarrassment Hale blundered upon the thought he had honorablyavoided. 

"Suppose, " he said, with a constrained laugh, "I had stayed to see you. "

"I reckon I ain't your kind, neither, " she replied promptly. There wasa momentary pause when she rose and walked to the chimney. "It'svery quiet down there, " she said, stooping and listening over theroughly-boarded floor that formed the ceiling of the room below. "Iwonder what's going on. "

In the belief that this was a delicate hint for his return to the partyhe had left, Hale rose, but the girl passed him hurriedly, and, openingthe door, cast a quick glance into the stable beyond. 

"Just as I reckoned--the horses are gone too. They've skedaddled, " shesaid blankly. 

Hale did not reply. In his embarrassment a moment ago the idea of takingan equally sudden departure had flashed upon him. Should he take this asa justification of that impulse, or how? He stood irresolutely gazingat the girl, who turned and began to descend the stairs silently. Hefollowed. When they reached the lower room they found it as they hadexpected--deserted. 

"I hope I didn't drive them away, " said Hale, with an uneasy look at thetroubled face of the girl. "For I really had an idea of going myself amoment ago. "

She remained silent, gazing out of the window. Then, turning with aslight shrug of her shoulders, said half defiantly: "What's the use now?Oh, Maw! the Stanner crowd has vamosed the ranch, and this yer strangerkalkilates to stay!"

CHAPTER VII

A week had passed at Eagle's Court--a week of mingled clouds andsunshine by day, of rain over the green plateau and snow on themountain by night. Each morning had brought its fresh greenness to thewinter-girt domain, and a fresh coat of dazzling white to the barrierthat separated its dwellers from the world beyond. There was littlechange in the encompassing wall of their prison; if anything, the snowycircle round them seemed to have drawn its lines nearer day by day. Theimmediate result of this restricted limit had been to confine the rangeof cattle to the meadows nearer the house, and at a safe distance fromthe fringe of wilderness now invaded by the prowling tread of predatoryanimals. 

Nevertheless, the two figures lounging on the slope at sunset gave verylittle indication of any serious quality in the situation. Indeed, so far as appearances were concerned, Kate, who was returning from anafternoon stroll with Falkner, exhibited, with feminine inconsistency, a decided return to the world of fashion and conventionality apparentlyjust as she was effectually excluded from it. She had not only discardedher white dress as a concession to the practical evidence of thesurrounding winter, but she had also brought out a feather hat and sablemuff which had once graced a fashionable suburb of Boston. Even Falknerhad exchanged his slouch hat and picturesque serape for a beaverovercoat and fur cap of Hale's which had been pressed upon him by Kate, under the excuse of the exigencies of the season. Within a stone's throwof the thicket, turbulent with the savage forces of nature, they walkedwith the abstraction of people hearing only their own voices; in theface of the solemn peaks clothed with white austerity they talkedgravely of dress. 

"I don't mean to say, " said Kate demurely, "that you're to give up theserape entirely; you can wear it on rainy nights and when you ride overhere from your friend's house to spend the evening--for the sake of oldtimes, " she added, with an unconscious air of referring to an alreadyantiquated friendship; "but you must admit it's a little too gorgeousand theatrical for the sunlight of day and the public highway. "

"But why should that make it wrong, if the experience of a people hasshown it to be a garment best fitted for their wants and requirements?"said Falkner argumentatively. 

"But you are not one of those people, " said Kate, "and that makes allthe difference. You look differently and act differently, so that thereis something irreconcilable between your clothes and you that makes youlook odd. "

"And to look odd, according to your civilized prejudices, is to bewrong, " said Falkner bitterly. 

"It is to seem different from what one really is--which IS wrong. Now, you are a mining superintendent, you tell me. Then you don't want tolook like a Spanish brigand, as you do in that serape. I am sure if youhad ridden up to a stage-coach while I was in it, I'd have handed you mywatch and purse without a word. There! you are not offended?" she added, with a laugh, which did not, however, conceal a certain earnestness. "I suppose I ought to have said I would have given it gladly to sucha romantic figure, and perhaps have got out and danced a saraband orbolero with you--if that is the thing to do nowadays. Well!" she said, after a dangerous pause, "consider that I've said it. "

He had been walking a little before her, with his face turned towardsthe distant mountain. Suddenly he stopped and faced her. "You would havegiven enough of your time to the highwayman, Miss Scott, as would haveenabled you to identify him for the police--and no more. Like yourbrother, you would have been willing to sacrifice yourself for thebenefit of the laws of civilization and good order. "

If a denial to this assertion could have been expressed without theuse of speech, it was certainly transparent in the face and eyes of theyoung girl at that moment. If Falkner had been less self-conscious hewould have seen it plainly. But Kate only buried her face in her liftedmuff, slightly raised her pretty shoulders, and, dropping her tremulouseyelids, walked on. "It seems a pity, " she said, after a pause, "thatwe cannot preserve our own miserable existence without taking somethingfrom others--sometimes even a life!" He started. "And it's horrid tohave to remind you that you have yet to kill something for the invalid'ssupper, " she continued. "I saw a hare in the field yonder. "

"You mean that jackass rabbit?" he said, abstractedly. 

"What you please. It's a pity you didn't take your gun instead of yourrifle. "

"I brought the rifle for protection. "

"And a shot gun is only aggressive, I suppose?"

Falkner looked at her for a moment, and then, as the hare suddenlystarted across the open a hundred yards away, brought the rifle to hisshoulder. A long interval--as it seemed to Kate--elapsed; the animalappeared to be already safely out of range, when the rifle suddenlycracked; the hare bounded in the air like a ball, and droppedmotionless. The girl looked at the marksman in undisguised admiration. "Is it quite dead?" she said timidly. 

"It never knew what struck it. "

"It certainly looks less brutal than shooting it with a shot gun, asJohn does, and then not killing it outright, " said Kate. "I hate what iscalled sport and sportsmen, but a rifle seems--"

"What?" said Falkner. 

"More--gentlemanly. "

She had raised her pretty head in the air, and, with her hand shadingher eyes, was looking around the clear ether, and said meditatively, "Iwonder--no matter. "

"What is it?"

"Oh, nothing. "

"It is something, " said Falkner, with an amused smile, reloading hisrifle. 

"Well, you once promised me an eagle's feather for my hat. Isn't thatthing an eagle?"

"I am afraid it's only a hawk. "

"Well, that will do. Shoot that!"

Her eyes were sparkling. Falkner withdrew his own with a slight smile, and raised his rifle with provoking deliberation. 

"Are you quite sure it's what you want?" he asked demurely. 

"Yes--quick!"

Nevertheless, it was some minutes before the rifle cracked again. Thewheeling bird suddenly struck the wind with its wings aslant, and thenfell like a plummet at a distance which showed the difficulty of thefeat. Falkner started from her side before the bird reached the ground. He returned to her after a lapse of a few moments, bearing a trailingwing in his hand. "You shall make your choice, " he said gayly. 

"Are you sure it was killed outright?"

"Head shot off, " said Falkner briefly. 

"And besides, the fall would have killed it, " said Kate conclusively. "It's lovely. I suppose they call you a very good shot?"

"They--who?"

"Oh! the people you know--your friends, and their sisters. "

"George shoots better than I do, and has had more experience. I've seenhim do that with a pistol. Of course not such a long shot, but a moredifficult one. "

Kate did not reply, but her face showed a conviction that as an artisticand gentlemanly performance it was probably inferior to the one shehad witnessed. Falkner, who had picked up the hare also, again took hisplace by her side, as they turned towards the house. 

"Do you remember the day you came, when we were walking here, youpointed out that rock on the mountain where the poor animals had takenrefuge from the snow?" said Kate suddenly. 

"Yes, " answered Falkner; "they seem to have diminished. I am afraid youwere right; they have either eaten each other or escaped. Let us hopethe latter. "

"I looked at them with a glass every day, " said Kate, "and they've gotdown to only four. There's a bear and that shabby, over-grown cat youcall a California lion, and a wolf, and a creature like a fox or asquirrel. "

"It's a pity they're not all of a kind, " said Falkner. 

"Why?"

"There'd be nothing to keep them from being comfortable together. "

"On the contrary, I should think it would be simply awful to be shut upentirely with one's own kind. "

"Then you believe it is possible for them, with their differentnatures and habits, to be happy together?" said Falkner, with suddenearnestness. 

"I believe, " said Kate hurriedly, "that the bear and the lion find thefox and the wolf very amusing, and that the fox and the wolf--"

"Well?" said Falkner, stopping short. 

"Well, the fox and the wolf will carry away a much better opinion of thelion and bear than they had before. "

They had reached the house by this time, and for some occult reason Katedid not immediately enter the parlor, where she had left her sister andthe invalid, who had already been promoted to a sofa and a cushion bythe window, but proceeded directly to her own room. As a manoeuvre toavoid meeting Mrs. Hale, it was scarcely necessary, for that lady wasalready in advance of her on the staircase, as if she had left theparlor for a moment before they entered the house. Falkner, too, wouldhave preferred the company of his own thoughts, but Lee, apparentlythe only unpreoccupied, all-pervading, and boyishly alert spirit in theparty, hailed him from within, and obliged him to present himself onthe threshold of the parlor with the hare and hawk's wing he was stillcarrying. Eying the latter with affected concern, Lee said gravely:"Of course, I CAN eat it, Ned, and I dare say it's the best part of thefowl, and the hare isn't more than enough for the women, but I had noidea we were so reduced. Three hours and a half gunning, and only onehare and a hawk's wing. It's terrible. "

Perceiving that his friend was alone, Falkner dropped his burden in thehall and strode rapidly to his side. "Look here, George, we must, I mustleave this place at once. It's no use talking; I can stand this sort ofthing no longer. "

"Nor can I, with the door open. Shut it, and say what you want quick, before Mrs. Hale comes back. Have you found a trail?"

"No, no; that's not what I mean. "

"Well, it strikes me it ought to be, if you expect to get away. Haveyou proposed to Beacon Street, and she thinks it rather premature on aweek's acquaintance?"

"No; but--"

"But you WILL, you mean? DON'T, just yet. "

"But I cannot live this perpetual lie. "

"That depends. I don't know HOW you're lying when I'm not with you. Ifyou're walking round with that girl, singing hymns and talking ofyour class in Sunday-school, or if you're insinuating that you're amillionaire, and think of buying the place for a summer hotel, I shouldsay you'd better quit that kind of lying. But, on the other hand, Idon't see the necessity of your dancing round here with a shot gun, andyelling for Harkins's blood, or counting that package of greenbacks inthe lap of Miss Scott, to be truthful. It seems to me there ought to besomething between the two. "

"But, George, don't you think--you are on such good terms with Mrs. Haleand her mother--that you might tell them the whole story? That is, tellit in your own way; they will hear anything from you, and believe it. "

"Thank you; but suppose I don't believe in lying, either?"

"You know what I mean! You have a way, d--n it, of making everythingseem like a matter of course, and the most natural thing going. "

"Well, suppose I did. Are you prepared for the worst?"

Falkner was silent for a moment, and then replied, "Yes, anything wouldbe better than this suspense. "

"I don't agree with you. Then you would be willing to have them forgiveus?"

"I don't understand you. "

"I mean that their forgiveness would be the worst thing that couldhappen. Look here, Ned. Stop a moment; listen at that door. Mrs. Halehas the tread of an angel, with the pervading capacity of a cat. Nowlisten! I don't pretend to be in love with anybody here, but if I were Ishould hardly take advantage of a woman's helplessness and solitude witha sensational story about myself. It's not giving her a fair show. Youknow she won't turn you out of the house. "

"No, " said Falkner, reddening; "but I should expect to go at once, andthat would be my only excuse for telling her. "

"Go! where? In your preoccupation with that girl you haven't even foundthe trail by which Manuel escaped. Do you intend to camp outside thehouse, and make eyes at her when she comes to the window?"

"Because you think nothing of flirting with Mrs. Hale, " said Falknerbitterly, "you care little--"

"My dear Ned, " said Lee, "the fact that Mrs. Hale has a husband, andknows that she can't marry me, puts us on equal terms. Nothing that shecould learn about me hereafter would make a flirtation with me any lesswrong than it would be now, or make her seem more a victim. Can you saythe same of yourself and that Puritan girl?"

"But you did not advise me to keep aloof from her; on the contrary, you--"

"I thought you might make the best of the situation, and pay her someattention, BECAUSE you could not go any further. "

"You thought I was utterly heartless and selfish, like--"

"Ned!"

Falkner walked rapidly to the fireplace, and returned. 

"Forgive me, George--I'm a fool--and an ungrateful one. "

Lee did not reply at once, although he took and retained the handFalkner had impulsively extended. "Promise me, " he said slowly, after apause, "that you will say nothing yet to either of these women. I ask itfor your own sake, and this girl's, not for mine. If, on the contrary, you are tempted to do so from any Quixotic idea of honor, remember thatyou will only precipitate something that will oblige you, from that samesense of honor, to separate from the girl forever. "

"I don't understand. "

"Enough!" said he, with a quick return of his old reckless gayety. "Shoot-Off-His-Mouth--the Beardless Boy Chief of the Sierras--hasspoken! Let the Pale Face with the black moustache ponder and beware howhe talks hereafter to the Rippling Cochituate Water! Go!"

Nevertheless, as soon as the door had closed upon Falkner, Lee's smilevanished. With his colorless face turned to the fading light at thewindow, the hollows in his temples and the lines in the corners of hiseyes seemed to have grown more profound. He remained motionless andabsorbed in thought so deep that the light rustle of a skirt, that wouldat other times have thrilled his sensitive ear, passed unheeded. Atlast, throwing off his reverie with the full and unrestrained sigh ofa man who believes himself alone, he was startled by the soft laugh ofMrs. Hale, who had entered the room unperceived. 

"Dear me! How portentous! Really, I almost feel as if I wereinterrupting a tete-a-tete between yourself and some old flame. Ihaven't heard anything so old-fashioned and conservative as that sighsince I have been in California. I thought you never had any Past outhere?"

Fortunately his face was between her and the light, and the unmistakableexpression of annoyance and impatience which was passed over it wasspared her. There was, however, still enough dissonance in his manner toaffect her quick feminine sense, and when she drew nearer to him it waswith a certain maiden-like timidity. 

"You are not worse, Mr. Lee, I hope? You have not over-exertedyourself?"

"There's little chance of that with one leg--if not in the grave atleast mummified with bandages, " he replied, with a bitterness new tohim. 

"Shall I loosen them? Perhaps they are too tight. There is nothing soirritating to one as the sensation of being tightly bound. "

The light touch of her hand upon the rug that covered his knees, the thoughtful tenderness of the blue-veined lids, and the delicateatmosphere that seemed to surround her like a perfume cleared his faceof its shadow and brought back the reckless fire into his blue eyes. 

"I suppose I'm intolerant of all bonds, " he said, looking at herintently, "in others as well as myself!"

Whether or not she detected any double meaning in his words, she wasobliged to accept the challenge of his direct gaze, and, raising hereyes to his, drew back a little from him with a slight increase ofcolor. "I was afraid you had heard bad news just now. "

"What would you call bad news?" asked Lee, clasping his hands behindhis head, and leaning back on the sofa, but without withdrawing his eyesfrom her face. 

"Oh, any news that would interrupt your convalescence, or break up ourlittle family party, " said Mrs. Hale. "You have been getting on so wellthat really it would seem cruel to have anything interfere with our lifeof forgetting and being forgotten. But, " she added with apprehensivequickness, "has anything happened? Is there really any news from--from, the trails? Yesterday Mr. Falkner said the snow had recommenced in thepass. Has he seen anything, noticed anything different?"

She looked so very pretty, with the rare, genuine, and youthfulexcitement that transfigured her wearied and wearying regularity offeature, that Lee contented himself with drinking in her prettiness ashe would have inhaled the perfume of some flower. 

"Why do you look at me so, Mr. Lee?" she asked, with a slight smile. "I believe something HAS happened. Mr. Falkner HAS brought you someintelligence. "

"He has certainly found out something I did not foresee. "

"And that troubles you?"

"It does. "

"Is it a secret?"

"No. "

"Then I suppose you will tell it to me at dinner, " she said, with alittle tone of relief. 

"I am afraid, if I tell it at all, I must tell it now, " he said, glancing at the door. 

"You must do as you think best, " she said coldly, "as it seems to be asecret, after all. " She hesitated. "Kate is dressing, and will not bedown for some time. "

"So much the better. For I'm afraid that Ned has made a poor return toyour hospitality by falling in love with her. "

"Impossible! He has known her for scarcely a week. "

"I am afraid we won't agree as to the length of time necessary toappreciate and love a woman. I think it can be done in seven days andfour hours, the exact time we have been here. "

"Yes; but as Kate was not in when you arrived, and did not come untillater, you must take off at least one hour, " said Mrs. Hale gayly. 

"Ned can. I shall not abate a second. "

"But are you not mistaken in his feelings?" she continued hurriedly. "Hecertainly has not said anything to her. "

"That is his last hold on honor and reason. And to preserve that littleintact he wants to run away at once. "

"But that would be very silly. "

"Do you think so?" he said, looking at her fixedly. 

"Why not?" she asked in her turn, but rather faintly. 

"I'll tell you why, " he said, lowering his voice with a certainintensity of passion unlike his usual boyish lightheartedness. "Think ofa man whose life has been one of alternate hardness and aggression, ofsavage disappointment and equally savage successes, who has known noother relaxation than dissipation and extravagance; a man to whomthe idea of the domestic hearth and family ties only meant weakness, effeminacy, or--worse; who had looked for loyalty and devotion only inthe man who battled for him at his right hand in danger, or shared hisprivations and sufferings. Think of such a man, and imagine that anaccident has suddenly placed him in an atmosphere of purity, gentleness, and peace, surrounded him by the refinements of a higher life than hehad ever known, and that he found himself as in a dream, on terms ofequality with a pure woman who had never known any other life, and yetwould understand and pity his. Imagine his loving her! Imagine that thefirst effect of that love was to show him his own inferiority and theimmeasurable gulf that lay between his life and hers! Would he not flyrather than brave the disgrace of her awakening to the truth? Wouldhe not fly rather than accept even the pity that might tempt her to asacrifice?"

"But--is Mr. Falkner all that?"

"Nothing of the kind, I assure you!" said he demurely. "But that's theway a man in love feels. "

"Really! Mr. Falkner should get you to plead his cause with Kate, " saidMrs. Hale with a faint laugh. 

"I need all my persuasive powers in that way for myself, " said Leeboldly. 

Mrs. Hale rose. "I think I hear Kate coming, " she said. Nevertheless, she did not move away. "It IS Kate coming, " she added hurriedly, stooping to pick up her work-basket, which had slipped with Lee's handfrom her own. 

It was Kate, who at once flew to her sister's assistance, Lee deploringfrom the sofa his own utter inability to aid her. "It's all my fault, too, " he said to Kate, but looking at Mrs. Hale. "It seems I havea faculty of upsetting existing arrangements without the power ofimproving them, or even putting them back in their places. What shall Ido? I am willing to hold any number of skeins or rewind any quantity ofspools. I am even willing to forgive Ned for spending the whole day withyou, and only bringing me the wing of a hawk for supper. "

"That was all my folly, Mr. Lee, " said Kate, with swift mendacity; "hewas all the time looking after something for you, when I begged him toshoot a bird to get a feather for my hat. And that wing is SO pretty. "

"It is a pity that mere beauty is not edible, " said Lee, gravely, "andthat if the worst comes to the worst here you would probably prefer meto Ned and his moustachios, merely because I've been tied by the leg tothis sofa and slowly fattened like a Strasbourg goose. "

Nevertheless, his badinage failed somehow to amuse Kate, and shepresently excused herself to rejoin her sister, who had already slippedfrom the room. For the first time during their enforced seclusion asense of restraint and uneasiness affected Mrs. Hale, her sister, andFalkner at dinner. The latter addressed himself to Mrs. Scott, almostentirely. Mrs. Hale was fain to bestow an exceptional and markedtenderness on her little daughter Minnie, who, however, by someoccult childish instinct, insisted upon sharing it with Lee--her greatfriend--to Mrs. Hale's uneasy consciousness. Nor was Lee slow to profitby the child's suggestion, but responded with certain vicarious caressesthat increased the mother's embarrassment. That evening they retiredearly, but in the intervals of a restless night Kate was aware, fromthe sound of voices in the opposite room, that the friends were equallywakeful. 

A morning of bright sunshine and soft warm air did not, however, bringany change to their new and constrained relations. It only seemed tooffer a reason for Falkner to leave the house very early for hisdaily rounds, and gave Lee that occasion for unaided exercise with anextempore crutch on the veranda which allowed Mrs. Hale to pursue hermanifold duties without the necessity of keeping him company. Kate also, as if to avoid an accidental meeting with Falkner, had remained at homewith her sister. With one exception, they did not make their guests thesubject of their usual playful comments, nor, after the fashion of theirsex, quote their ideas and opinions. That exception was made by Mrs. Hale. 

"You have had no difference with Mr. Falkner?" she said carelessly. 

"No, " said Kate quickly. "Why?"

"I only thought he seemed rather put out at dinner last night, and youdidn't propose to go and meet him to-day. "

"He must be bored with my company at times, I dare say, " said Kate, withan indifference quite inconsistent with her rising color. "I shouldn'twonder if he was a little vexed with Mr. Lee's chaffing him about hissport yesterday, and probably intends to go further to-day, and bringhome larger game. I think Mr. Lee very amusing always, but I sometimesfancy he lacks feeling. "

"Feeling! You don't know him, Kate, " said Mrs. Hale quickly. She stoppedherself, but with a half-smiling recollection in her dropped eyelids. 

"Well, he doesn't look very amiable now, stamping up and down theveranda. Perhaps you'd better go and soothe him. "

"I'm really SO busy just now, " said Mrs. Hale, with sudden andinconsequent energy; "things have got dreadfully behind in the lastweek. You had better go, Kate, and make him sit down, or he'll beoverdoing it. These men never know any medium--in anything. "

Contrary to Kate's expectation, Falkner returned earlier than usual, and, taking the invalid's arm, supported him in a more ambitious walkalong the terrace before the house. They were apparently absorbed inconversation, but the two women who observed them from the window couldnot help noticing the almost feminine tenderness of Falkner's mannertowards his wounded friend, and the thoughtful tenderness of hisministering care. 

"I wonder, " said Mrs. Hale, following them with softly appreciativeeyes, "if women are capable of as disinterested friendship as men? Inever saw anything like the devotion of these two creatures. Look! ifMr. Falkner hasn't got his arm round Mr. Lee's waist, and Lee, with hisown arm over Falkner's neck, is looking up in his eyes. I declare, Kate, it almost seems an indiscretion to look at them. "

Kate, however, to Mrs. Hale's indignation, threw her pretty head backand sniffed the air contemptuously. "I really don't see anything butsome absurd sentimentalism of their own, or some mannish wickednessthey're concocting by themselves. I am by no means certain, Josephine, that Lee's influence over that young man is the best thing for him. "

"On the contrary! Lee's influence seems the only thing that checkshis waywardness, " said Mrs. Hale quickly. "I'm sure, if anyone makessacrifices, it is Lee; I shouldn't wonder that even now he is makingsome concession to Falkner, and all those caressing ways of your friendare for a purpose. They're not much different from us, dear. "

"Well, I wouldn't stand there and let them see me looking at them as ifI couldn't bear them out of my sight for a moment, " said Kate, whiskingherself out of the room. "They're conceited enough, Heaven knows, already. "

That evening, at dinner, however, the two men exhibited no trace of therestraint or uneasiness of the previous day. If they were less impulsiveand exuberant, they were still frank and interested, and if the termcould be used in connection with men apparently trained to neitherself-control nor repose, there was a certain gentle dignity in theirmanner which for the time had the effect of lifting them a littleabove the social level of their entertainers. For even with all theirpredisposition to the strangers, Kate and Mrs. Hale had always retaineda conscious attitude of gentle condescension and superiority towardsthem--an attitude not inconsistent with a stronger feeling, noraltogether unprovocative of it; yet this evening they found themselvesimpressed with something more than an equality in the men who had amusedand interested them, and they were perhaps a little more criticaland doubtful of their own power. Mrs. Hale's little girl, who hadappreciated only the seriousness of the situation, had made her ownapplication of it. "Are you dow'in' away from aunt Kate and mamma?" sheasked, in an interval of silence. 

"How else can I get you the red snow we saw at sunset, the other day, onthe peak yonder?" said Lee gayly. "I'll have to get up some morning veryearly, and catch it when it comes at sunrise. "

"What is this wonderful snow, Minnie, that you are tormenting Mr. Leefor?" asked Mrs. Hale. 

"Oh! it's a fairy snow that he told me all about; it only comes whenthe sun comes up and goes down, and if you catch ever so little of itin your hand it makes all you fink you want come true! Wouldn't that benice?" But to the child's astonishment her little circle of auditors, even while assenting, sighed. 

The red snow was there plain enough the next morning before the valleywas warm with light, and while Minnie, her mother, and aunt Kate werestill peacefully sleeping. And Mr. Lee had kept his word, and wasevidently seeking it, for he and Falkner were already urging theirhorses through the pass, with their faces towards and lit up by itsglow. 

CHAPTER VIII

Kate was stirring early, but not as early as her sister, who met heron the threshold of her room. Her face was quite pale, and she held aletter in her hand. "What does this mean, Kate?"

"What is the matter?" asked Kate, her own color fading from her cheek. 

"They are gone--with their horses. Left before day, and left this. "

She handed Kate an open letter. The girl took it hurriedly, and read--

"When you get this we shall be no more; perhaps not even as much. Nedfound the trail yesterday, and we are taking the first advantage of itbefore day. We dared not trust ourselves to say 'Good-by!' last evening;we were too cowardly to face you this morning; we must go as we came, without warning, but not without regret. We leave a package and a letterfor your husband. It is not only our poor return for your gentleness andhospitality, but, since it was accidentally the means of giving us thepleasure of your society, we beg you to keep it in safety until hisreturn. We kiss your mother's hands. Ned wants to say something more, but time presses, and I only allow him to send his love to Minnie, andto tell her that he is trying to find the red snow. 

"GEORGE LEE. "

"But he is not fit to travel, " said Mrs. Hale. "And the trail--it maynot be passable. "

"It was passable the day before yesterday, " said Kate drearily, "for Idiscovered it, and went as far as the buck-eyes. "

"Then it was you who told them about it, " said Mrs. Hale reproachfully. 

"No, " said Kate indignantly. "Of course I didn't. " She stopped, and, reading the significance of her speech in the glistening eyes of hersister, she blushed. Josephine kissed her, and said--

"It WAS treating us like children, Kate, but we must make them pay forit hereafter. For that package and letter to John means something, andwe shall probably see them before long. I wonder what the letter isabout, and what is in the package?"

"Probably one of Mr. Lee's jokes. He is quite capable of turning thewhole thing into ridicule. I dare say he considers his visit here aprolonged jest. "

"With his poor leg, Kate? You are as unfair to him as you were toFalkner when they first came. "

Kate, however, kept her dark eyebrows knitted in a piquant frown. 

"To think of his intimating WHAT he would allow Falkner to say! And yetyou believe he has no evil influence over the young man. "

Mrs. Hale laughed. "Where are you going so fast, Kate?" she calledmischievously, as the young lady flounced out of the room. 

"Where? Why, to tidy John's room. He may be coming at any moment now. Ordo you want to do it yourself?"

"No, no, " returned Mrs. Hale hurriedly; "you do it. I'll look in alittle later on. "

She turned away with a sigh. The sun was shining brilliantly outside. Through the half-open blinds its long shafts seemed to be searching thehouse for the lost guests, and making the hollow shell appear doublyempty. What a contrast to the dear dark days of mysterious seclusionand delicious security, lit by Lee's laughter and the sparkling hearth, which had passed so quickly! The forgotten outer world seemed to havereturned to the house through those open windows and awakened itsdwellers from a dream. 

The morning seemed interminable, and it was past noon, while theywere deep in a sympathetic conference with Mrs. Scott, who had drawn apathetic word-picture of the two friends perishing in the snow-drift, without flannels, brandy, smelling-salts, or jelly, which they hadforgotten, when they were startled by the loud barking of "Spot" on thelawn before the house. The women looked hurriedly at each other. 

"They have returned, " said Mrs. Hale. 

Kate ran to the window. A horseman was approaching the house. A singleglance showed her that it was neither Falkner, Lee, nor Hale, but astranger. 

"Perhaps he brings some news of them, " said Mrs. Scott quickly. Socomplete had been their preoccupation with the loss of their guests thatthey could not yet conceive of anything that did not pertain to it. 

The stranger, who was at once ushered into the parlor, was evidentlydisconcerted by the presence of the three women. 

"I reckoned to see John Hale yer, " he began, awkwardly. 

A slight look of disappointment passed over their faces. "He has not yetreturned, " said Mrs. Hale briefly. 

"Sho! I wanter know. He's hed time to do it, I reckon, " said thestranger. 

"I suppose he hasn't been able to get over from the Summit, " returnedMrs. Hale. "The trail is closed. "

"It ain't now, for I kem over it this mornin' myself. "

"You didn't--meet--anyone?" asked Mrs. Hale timidly, with a glance atthe others. 

"No. "

A long silence ensued. The unfortunate visitor plainly perceivedan evident abatement of interest in himself, yet he still struggledpolitely to say something. "Then I reckon you know what kept Hale away?"he said dubiously. 

"Oh, certainly--the stage robbery. "

"I wish I'd known that, " said the stranger reflectively, "for I ez goodez rode over jist to tell it to ye. Ye see John Hale, he sent a note toye 'splainin' matters by a gentleman; but the road agents tackled thatman, and left him for dead in the road. "

"Yes, " said Mrs. Hale impatiently. 

"Luckily he didn't die, but kem to, and managed to crawl inter thebrush, whar I found him when I was lookin' for stock, and brought him tomy house--"

"YOU found him? YOUR house?" interrupted Mrs. Hale. 

"Inter MY house, " continued the man doggedly. "I'm Thompson ofThompson's Pass over yon; mebbe it ain't much of a house; but I broughthim thar. Well, ez he couldn't find the note that Hale had guv him, andlike ez not the road agents had gone through him and got it, ez soon ezthe weather let up I made a break over yer to tell ye. "

"You say Mr. Lee came to your house, " repeated Mrs. Hale, "and is therenow?"

"Not much, " said the man grimly; "and I never said LEE was thar. I meanthat Bilson waz shot by Lee and kem--"

"Certainly, Josephine!" said Kate, suddenly stepping between her sisterand Thompson, and turning upon her a white face and eyes of silencingsignificance; "certainly--don't you remember?--that's the story we gotfrom the Chinaman, you know, only muddled. Go on sir, " she continued, turning to Thompson calmly; "you say that the man who brought the notefrom my brother was shot by Lee?"

"And another fellow they call Falkner. Yes, that's about the size ofit. "

"Thank you; it's nearly the same story that we heard. But you have hada long ride, Mr. Thompson; let me offer you a glass of whiskey in thedining-room. This way, please. "

The door closed upon them none too soon. For Mrs. Hale already felt theroom whirling around her, and sank back into her chair with a hystericallaugh. Old Mrs. Scott did not move from her seat, but, with her eyesfixed on the door, impatiently waited Kate's return. Neither spoke, buteach felt that the young, untried girl was equal to the emergency, andwould get at the truth. 

The sound of Thompson's feet in the hall and the closing of the frontdoor was followed by Kate's reappearance. Her face was still pale, butcalm. 

"Well?" said the two women in a breath. 

"Well, " returned Kate slowly; "Mr. Lee and Mr. Falkner were undoubtedlythe two men who took the paper from John's messenger and brought ithere. "

"You are sure?" said Mrs. Scott. 

"There can be no mistake, mother. "

"THEN, " said Mrs. Scott, with triumphant feminine logic, "I don't wantanything more to satisfy me that they are PERFECTLY INNOCENT!"

More convincing than the most perfect masculine deduction, thissingle expression of their common nature sent a thrill of sympathy andunderstanding through each. They cried for a few moments on each other'sshoulders. "To think, " said Mrs. Scott, "what that poor boy must havesuffered to have been obliged to do--that to--to--Bilson--isn't that thecreature's name? I suppose we ought to send over there and inquire afterhim, with some chicken and jelly, Kate. It's only common humanity, andwe must be just, my dear; for even if he shot Mr. Lee and provoked thepoor boy to shoot him, he may have thought it his duty. And then, itwill avert suspicions. "

"To think, " murmured Mrs. Hale, "what they must have gone through whilethey were here--momentarily expecting John to come, and yet keeping upsuch a light heart. "

"I believe, if they had stayed any longer, they would have told useverything, " said Mrs. Scott. 

Both the younger women were silent. Kate was thinking of Falkner'ssignificant speech as they neared the house on their last walk;Josephine was recalling the remorseful picture drawn by Lee, which sheknew was his own portrait. Suddenly she started. 

"But John will be here soon; what are we to tell him? And then thatpackage and that letter. "

"Don't be in a hurry to tell him anything at present, my child, " saidMrs. Scott gently. "It is unfortunate this Mr. Thompson called here, butwe are not obliged to understand what he says now about John's message, or to connect our visitors with his story. I'm sure, Kate, I should havetreated them exactly as we did if they had come without any message fromJohn; so I do not know why we should lay any stress on that, or evenspeak of it. The simple fact is that we have opened our house totwo strangers in distress. Your husband, " continued Mr. Hale'smother-in-law, "does not require to know more. As to the letter andpackage, we will keep that for further consideration. It cannot be ofmuch importance, or they would have spoken of it before; it is probablysome trifling present as a return for your hospitality. I should use noINDECOROUS haste in having it opened. "

The two women kissed Mrs. Scott with a feeling of relief, and fellback into the monotony of their household duties. It is to be feared, however, that the absence of their outlawed guests was nearly asdangerous as their presence in the opportunity it afforded foruninterrupted and imaginative reflection. Both Kate and Josephine wereat first shocked and wounded by the discovery of the real character ofthe two men with whom they had associated so familiarly, but it was nodisparagement to their sense of propriety to say that the shock did notlast long, and was accompanied with the fascination of danger. This wassucceeded by a consciousness of the delicate flattery implied in theirindirect influence over the men who had undoubtedly risked their livesfor the sake of remaining with them. The best woman is not above beingtouched by the effect of her power over the worst man, and Kate at firstallowed herself to think of Falkner in that light. But if in her laterreflections he suffered as a heroic experience to be forgotten, hegained something as an actual man to be remembered. Now that theproposed rides from "his friend's house" were a part of the illusion, would he ever dare to visit them again? Would she dare to see him? Sheheld her breath with a sudden pain of parting that was new to her; shetried to think of something else, to pick up the scattered threads ofher life before that eventful day. But in vain; that one week had filledthe place with implacable memories, or more terrible, as it seemed toher and her sister, they had both lost their feeble, alien holdupon Eagle's Court in the sudden presence of the real genii of thesesolitudes, and henceforth they alone would be the strangers there. They scarcely dared to confess it to each other, but this return to thedazzling sunlight and cloudless skies of the past appeared to them to bethe one unreal experience; they had never known the true wild flavorof their home, except in that week of delicious isolation. Withoutbreathing it aloud, they longed for some vague denoument to thisexperience that should take them from Eagle's Court forever. 

It was noon the next day when the little household beheld the last shredof their illusion vanish like the melting snow in the strong sunlightof John Hale's return. He was accompanied by Colonel Clinch and Rawlins, two strangers to the women. Was it fancy, or the avenging spirit oftheir absent companions? but HE too looked a stranger, and as the littlecavalcade wound its way up the slope he appeared to sit his horse andwear his hat with a certain slouch and absence of his usual restraintthat strangely shocked them. Even the old half-condescending, half-punctilious gallantry of his greeting of his wife and family waschanged, as he introduced his companions with a mingling of familiarityand shyness that was new to him. Did Mrs. Hale regret it, or feel asense of relief in the absence of his usual seignorial formality? Sheonly knew that she was grateful for the presence of the strangers, whichfor the moment postponed a matrimonial confidence from which she shrank. 

"Proud to know you, " said Colonel Clinch, with a sudden outbreak of theantique gallantry of some remote Huguenot ancestor. "My friend, JudgeHale, must be a regular Roman citizen to leave such a family and such ahouse at the call of public duty. Eh, Rawlins?"

"You bet, " said Rawlins, looking from Kate to her sister in undisguisedadmiration. 

"And I suppose the duty could not have been a very pleasant one, " saidMrs. Hale, timidly, without looking at her husband. 

"Gad, madam, that's just it, " said the gallant Colonel, seating himselfwith a comfortable air, and an easy, though by no means disrespectful, familiarity. "We went into this fight a little more than a week ago. Theonly scrimmage we've had has been with the detectives that were on therobbers' track. Ha! ha! The best people we've met have been the friendsof the men we were huntin', and we've generally come to the conclusionto vote the other ticket! Ez Judge Hale and me agreed ez we came along, the two men ez we'd most like to see just now and shake hands with areGeorge Lee and Ned Falkner. "

"The two leaders of the party who robbed the coach, " explained Mr. Hale, with a slight return of his usual precision of statement. 

The three women looked at each other with a blaze of thanksgiving intheir grateful eyes. Without comprehending all that Colonel Clinch hadsaid, they understood enough to know that their late guests were safefrom the pursuit of that party, and that their own conduct was sparedcriticism. I hardly dare write it, but they instantly assumed theappearance of aggrieved martyrs, and felt as if they were!

"Yes, ladies!" continued the Colonel, inspired by the bright eyes fixedupon him. "We haven't taken the road ourselves yet, but--pohn honor--wewouldn't mind doing it in a case like this. " Then with the fluent, butsomewhat exaggerated, phraseology of a man trained to "stump" speaking, he gave an account of the robbery and his own connection with it. Hespoke of the swindling and treachery which had undoubtedly provokedFalkner to obtain restitution of his property by an overt act ofviolence under the leadership of Lee. He added that he had learned sinceat Wild Cat Station that Harkins had fled the country, that a suit hadbeen commenced by the Excelsior Ditch Company, and that all availableproperty of Harkins had been seized by the sheriff. 

"Of course it can't be proved yet, but there's no doubt in my mind thatLee, who is an old friend of Ned Falkner's, got up that job to help him, and that Ned's off with the money by this time--and I'm right glad ofit. I can't say ez we've done much towards it, except to keep tumblingin the way of that detective party of Stanner's, and so throw them offthe trail--ha, ha! The Judge here, I reckon, has had his share offun, for while he was at Hennicker's trying to get some facts fromHennicker's pretty daughter, Stanner tried to get up some sort ofvigilance committee of the stage passengers to burn down Hennicker'sranch out of spite, but the Judge here stepped in and stopped that. "

"It was really a high-handed proceeding, Josephine, but I managed tocheck it, " said Hale, meeting somewhat consciously the first directlook his wife had cast upon him, and falling back for support on his oldmanner. "In its way, I think it was worse than the robbery by Lee andFalkner, for it was done in the name of law and order; while, as faras I can judge from the facts, the affair that we were following upwas simply a rude and irregular restitution of property that had beenmorally stolen. "

"I have no doubt you did quite right, though I don't understand it, "said Mrs. Hale languidly; "but I trust these gentlemen will stay toluncheon, and in the meantime excuse us for running away, as we areshort of servants, and Manuel seems to have followed the example of thehead of the house and left us, in pursuit of somebody or something. "

When the three women had gained the vantage-ground of the drawing-room, Kate said, earnestly, "As it's all right, hadn't we better tell himnow?"

"Decidedly not, child, " said Mrs. Scott, imperatively. "Do you supposethey are in a hurry to tell us THEIR whole story? Who are thoseHennicker people? and they were there a week ago!"

"And did you notice John's hat when he came in, and the vulgarfamiliarity of calling him 'Judge'?" said Mrs. Hale. 

"Well, certainly anything like the familiarity of this man Clinch Inever saw, " said Kate. "Contrast his manner with Mr. Falkner's. "

At luncheon the three suffering martyrs finally succeeded in reducingHale and his two friends to an attitude of vague apology. But theirtriumph was short-lived. At the end of the meal they were startled bythe trampling of hoofs without, followed by loud knocking. In anothermoment the door was opened, and Mr. Stanner strode into the room. Halerose with a look of indignation. 

"I thought, as Mr. Stanner understood that I had no desire for hiscompany elsewhere, he would hardly venture to intrude upon me in myhouse, and certainly not after--"

"Ef you're alluding to the Vigilantes shakin' you and Zeenie up atHennicker's, you can't make ME responsible for that. I'm here now onbusiness--you understand--reg'lar business. Ef you want to see thepapers yer ken. I suppose you know what a warrant is?"

"I know what YOU are, " said Hale hotly; "and if you don't leave myhouse--"

"Steady, boys, " interrupted Stanner, as his five henchmen filed into thehall. "There's no backin' down here, Colonel Clinch, unless you and Halekalkilate to back down the State of Californy! The matter stands likethis. There's a half-breed Mexican, called Manuel, arrested over at theSummit, who swears he saw George Lee and Edward Falkner in this housethe night after the robbery. He says that they were makin' themselvesat home here, as if they were among friends, and considerin' the kind ofhelp we've had from Mr. John Hale, it looks ez if it might be true. "

"It's an infamous lie!" said Hale. 

"It may be true, John, " said Mrs. Scott, suddenly stepping in front ofher pale-cheeked daughters. "A wounded man was brought here out ofthe storm by his friend, who claimed the shelter of your roof. As yourmother I should have been unworthy to stay beneath it and have deniedthat shelter or withheld it until I knew his name and what he was. Hestayed here until he could be removed. He left a letter for you. It willprobably tell you if he was the man this person is seeking. "

"Thank you, mother, " said Hale, lifting her hand to his lips quietly;"and perhaps you will kindly tell these gentlemen that, as your son doesnot care to know who or what the stranger was, there is no necessity foropening the letter, or keeping Mr. Stanner a moment longer. "

"But you will oblige ME, John, by opening it before these gentlemen, "said Mrs. Hale recovering her voice and color. "Please to follow me, "she said preceding them to the staircase. 

They entered Mr. Hale's room, now restored to its original condition. Onthe table lay a letter and a small package. The eyes of Mr. Stanner, alittle abashed by the attitude of the two women, fastened upon it andglistened. 

Josephine handed her husband the letter. He opened it in breathlesssilence and read--

"JOHN HALE, "We owe you no return for voluntarily making yourself a champion ofjustice and pursuing us, except it was to offer you a fair field and nofavor. We didn't get that much from you, but accident brought us intoyour house and into your family, where we DID get it, and were fairlyvanquished. To the victors belong the spoils. We leave the package ofgreenbacks which we took from Colonel Clinch in the Sierra coach, butwhich was first stolen by Harkins from forty-four shareholders of theExcelsior Ditch. We have no right to say what YOU should do with it, butif you aren't tired of following the same line of justice that inducedyou to run after US, you will try to restore it to its rightful owners. 

"We leave you another trifle as an evidence that our intrusion into youraffairs was not without some service to you, even if the service was asaccidental as the intrusion. You will find a pair of boots in the cornerof your closet. They were taken from the burglarious feet of Manuel, your peon, who, believing the three ladies were alone and at his mercy, entered your house with an accomplice at two o'clock on the morning ofthe 21st, and was kicked out by

"Your obedient servants, "GEORGE LEE & EDWARD FALKNER"

Hale's voice and color changed on reading this last paragraph. He turnedquickly towards his wife; Kate flew to the closet, where the muffledboots of Manuel confronted them. "We never knew it. I always suspectedsomething that night, " said Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Scott in the same breath. 

"That's all very well, and like George Lee's high falutin', " saidStanner, approaching the table, "but as long ez the greenbacks are herehe can make what capital he likes outer Manuel. I'll trouble you to passover that package. "

"Excuse me, " said Hale, "but I believe this is the package taken fromColonel Clinch. Is it not?" he added, appealing to the Colonel. 

"It is, " said Clinch. 

"Then take it, " said Hale, handing him the package. "The firstrestitution is to you, but I believe you will fulfil Lee's instructionsas well as myself. "

"But, " said Stanner, furiously interposing, "I've a warrant to seizethat wherever found, and I dare you to disobey the law. "

"Mr. Stanner, " said Clinch, slowly, "there are ladies present. If youinsist upon having that package I must ask them to withdraw, and I'mafraid you'll find me better prepared to resist a SECOND robbery than Iwas the first. Your warrant, which was taken out by the Express Company, is supplanted by civil proceedings taken the day before yesterdayagainst the property of the fugitive swindler Harkins! You should haveconsulted the sheriff before you came here. "

Stanner saw his mistake. But in the faces of his grinning followers hewas obliged to keep up his bluster. "You shall hear from me again, sir, "he said, turning on his heel. 

"I beg your pardon, " said Clinch grimly, "but do I understand that atlast I am to have the honor--"

"You shall hear from the Company's lawyers, sir, " said Stanner turningred, and noisily leaving the room. 

"And so, my dear ladies, " said Colonel Clinch, "you have spent a weekwith a highwayman. I say A highwayman, for it would be hard to call myyoung friend Falkner by that name for his first offence, committed undergreat provocation, and undoubtedly instigated by Lee, who was an oldfriend of his, and to whom he came, no doubt, in desperation. "

Kate stole a triumphant glance at her sister, who dropped her lids overher glistening eyes. "And this Mr. Lee, " she continued more gently, "ishe really a highwayman?"

"George Lee, " said Clinch, settling himself back oratorically in hischair, "my dear young lady, IS a highwayman, but not of the common sort. He is a gentleman born, madam, comes from one of the oldest families ofthe Eastern Shore of Maryland. He never mixes himself up with anythingbut some of the biggest strikes, and he's an educated man. He is verypopular with ladies and children; he was never known to do or sayanything that could bring a blush to the cheek of beauty or a tear tothe eye of innocence. I think I may say I'm sure you found him so. "

"I shall never believe him anything but a gentleman, " said Mrs. Scott, firmly. 

"If he has a defect, it is perhaps a too reckless indulgence in drawpoker, " said the Colonel, musingly; "not unbecoming a gentleman, understand me, Mrs. Scott, but perhaps too reckless for his own good. George played a grand game, a glittering game, but pardon me if I say anUNCERTAIN game. I've told him so; it's the only point on which we everdiffered. "

"Then you know him?" said Mrs. Hale, lifting her soft eyes to theColonel. 

"I have that honor. "

"Did his appearance, Josephine, " broke in Hale, somewhat ostentatiously, "appear to--er--er--correspond with these qualities? You know what Imean. "

"He certainly seemed very simple and natural, " said Mrs. Hale, slightlydrawing her pretty lips together. "He did not wear his trousers rolledup over his boots in the company of ladies, as you're doing now, nor didhe make his first appearance in this house with such a hat as you worethis morning, or I should not have admitted him. "

There were a few moments of embarrassing silence. 

"Do you intend to give that package to Mr. Falkner yourself, Colonel?"asked Mrs. Scott. 

"I shall hand it over to the Excelsior Company, " said the Colonel, "butI shall inform Ned of what I have done. "

"Then, " said Mrs. Scott, "will you kindly take a message from us tohim?"

"If you wish it. "

"You will be doing ME a great favor, Colonel, " said Hale, politely. 

Whatever the message was, six months later it brought Edward Falkner, the reestablished superintendent of the Excelsior Ditch, to Eagle'sCourt. As he and Kate stood again on the plateau, looking towards thedistant slopes once more green with verdure, Falkner said--

"Everything here looks as it did the first day I saw it, except yoursister. "

"The place does not agree with her, " said Kate hurriedly. "That is whymy brother thinks of leaving it before the winter sets in. "

"It seems so sad, " said Falkner, "for the last words poor George said tome, as he left to join his cousin's corps at Richmond, were: 'If I'mnot killed, Ned, I hope some day to stand again beside Mrs. Hale, at thewindow in Eagle's Court, and watch you and Kate coming home!'"