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diff --git a/42308-0.txt b/42308-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5328ba4 --- /dev/null +++ b/42308-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12277 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42308 *** + +Note: Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + https://archive.org/details/overlandtales00clifrich + + + + + +OVERLAND TALES + +by + +JOSEPHINE CLIFFORD. + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + +San Francisco: +A. L. Bancroft & Co. +1877. + +Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1877, by +Josephine Clifford, +in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. + +[Illustration: J. FAGAN & SON, STEREOTYPERS, PHILAD'A.] + +COLLINS, PRINTER. + + + + +Dedicated + +TO MY KINDEST + +AND + +_MOST CONSTANT READER_, + +MOTHER. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +In the book I now lay before the reader, I have collected a series of +stories and sketches of journeyings through California, Arizona, and New +Mexico. There is little of fiction, even in the stories; and the +sketches, I flatter myself, are true to life--as I saw it, at the time I +visited the places. + +A number of these stories first appeared in the OVERLAND MONTHLY, but +some of them are new, and have never been published. I bespeak for them +all the attentive perusal and undivided interest of the kind reader. + +THE AUTHOR. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + PAGE +_LA GRACIOSA_, 13 + +_JUANITA_, 53 + +_HETTY'S HEROISM_, 68 + +_A WOMAN'S TREACHERY_, 87 + +_THE GENTLEMAN FROM SISKIYOU_, 101 + +_SOMETHING ABOUT MY PETS_, 119 + +_POKER-JIM_, 137 + +_THE TRAGEDY AT MOHAWK STATION_, 153 + +_LONE LINDEN_, 161 + +_MANUELA_, 188 + +_THE ROMANCE OF GILA BEND_, 204 + +_A LADY IN CAMP_, 219 + +_THE GOLDEN LAMB_, 237 + +_IT OCCURRED AT TUCSON_, 260 + +_A BIT OF "EARLY CALIFORNIA"_, 274 + +_HER NAME WAS SYLVIA_, 282 + +_CROSSING THE ARIZONA DESERTS_, 296 + +_DOWN AMONG THE DEAD LETTERS_, 310 + +_MARCHING WITH A COMMAND_, 321 + +_TO TEXAS, AND BY THE WAY_, 354 + +_MY FIRST EXPERIENCE IN NEW MEXICO_, 367 + + + + +OVERLAND TALES. + + + + +_LA GRACIOSA._ + + +It was a stolid Indian face, at the first casual glance, but lighting up +wonderfully with intelligence and a genial smile, when the little dark +man, with the Spanish bearing, was spoken to. Particularly when +addressed by one of the fairer sex, did a certain native grace of +demeanor, an air of chivalrous gallantry, distinguish him from the more +cold-blooded, though, perhaps, more fluent-spoken, Saxon people +surrounding him. + +Among the many different eyes fixed upon him now and again, in the +crowded railroad-car, was one pair, of dark luminous gray, that dwelt +there longer, and returned oftener, than its owner chose to have the man +of the olive skin know. Still, he must have felt the magnetism of those +eyes; for, conversing with this, disputing with that, and greeting the +third man, he advanced, slowly but surely, to where a female figure, +shrouded in sombre black, sat close by the open window. There was +something touching in the young face that looked from out the heavy +widow's veil, which covered her small hat, and almost completely +enveloped the slender form. The face was transparently pale, the +faintest flush of pink tinging the cheeks when any emotion swayed the +breast; the lips were full, fresh, and cherry-red in color, and the +hair, dark-brown and wavy, was brushed lightly back from the temples. + +The breeze at the open window was quite fresh, for the train in its +flight was nearing the spot where the chill air from the ocean draws +through the Salinos Valley. Vainly the slender fingers tried to move the +obstinate spring that held aloft the upper part of the window. The color +crept faintly into the lady's cheeks, for suddenly a hand, hardly larger +than her's, though looking brown beside it, gently displaced her fingers +and lowered the window without the least trouble. The lady's gloves had +dropped; her handkerchief had fluttered to the floor; a small basket was +displaced; all these things were remedied and attended to by the +Spaniard, who had surely well-earned the thanks she graciously bestowed. + +"Excuse me," he said, with unmistakable Spanish pronunciation; "but you +do not live in our Valley--do you?" + +"This is my first visit," she replied; "but I shall probably live here +for the future." + +"Ah! that makes me so happy," he said, earnestly, laying his hand on his +heart. + +The lady looked at him in silent astonishment. "Perhaps that is the way +of the Spanish people," she said to herself. "At any rate, he has very +fine eyes, and--it may be tedious living in Salinos." + +Half an hour's conversation brought out the fact that a married sister's +house was to be the home of the lady for a while; that the sister did +not know of her coming just to-day, and that her ankle was so badly +sprained that walking was very painful to her. + +From the other side it was shown that his home was in the neighborhood +of the town ("one of those wealthy Spanish rancheros," she thought); +that he was slightly acquainted with her brother-in-law; that he was a +widower, and that his two sons would be at the depôt to receive him. +These sons would bring with them, probably, a light spring-wagon from +the ranch, but could easily be sent back for the comfortable carriage, +if the lady would allow him the pleasure of seeing her safely under her +sister's roof. She said she would accept a seat in the spring-wagon, and +Senor Don Pedro Lopez withdrew, with a deep bow, to look after his +luggage. + +"Poor lady!" he explained to a group of his inquiring friends, "poor +lady! She is deep in mourning, and she has much sorrow in her heart." +And he left them quickly, to assist his _protégé_ with her wraps. Then +the train came to a halt, and Don Pedro's new acquaintance, leaning on +his arm, approached the light vehicle, at either side of which stood the +two sons, bending courteously, in acknowledgment of the lady's greeting. +When Don Pedro himself was about to mount to the seat beside her, she +waved him back, with a charmingly impetuous motion of the hand. "I am +safe enough with your sons," she laughed, pleasantly. "Do you stop at my +brother-in-law's office, pray, and tell him I have come." + +Sister Anna was well pleased to greet the new arrival--"without an +attachment." Her sister Nora's "unhappy marriage" had been a source of +constant trouble and worry to her; and here she came at last--alone. +Brother-in-law Ben soon joined them, and Nora's first evening passed +without her growing seriously lonesome or depressed. Sister Anna, to be +sure, dreaded the following days. Her sister's unhappy marriage, she +confided to her nearest neighbor, had so tried the poor girl's nerves, +that she should not wonder if she sank into a profound melancholy. She +did all she could to make the days pass pleasantly; but what can you do +in a small town when you have neither carriage nor horses? + +Fortunately, Don Pedro came to the rescue. He owned many fine +horses and a number of vehicles--from an airy, open buggy to a +comfortably-cushioned carriage. He made his appearance a day or two +after Nora's arrival, mounted on a prancing black steed, to whose every +step jingled and clashed the heavy silver-mounted trappings, which the +older Spaniards are fond of decking out their horses with. He came +only, like a well-bred man, to inquire after the sprained ankle; but +before he left he had made an engagement to call the very next morning, +with his easiest carriage, to take both ladies out to drive. + +And he appeared, punctual to the minute, sitting stiffly in the +barouche-built carriage, on the front seat beside the driver, who, to +Nora's unpractised eye, seemed a full Indian, though hardly darker than +his master. True, the people of pure Spanish descent did say that this +same master had a slight admixture of Indian blood in his veins, too; +but Don Pedro always denied it. He was from Mexico, he said, but his +parents had come from Spain. However this might be, Nora stood in mute +dismay a moment, when the outfit drew up at the door; and she cast a +questioning glance at her sister, even after they were seated in the +carriage; but Sister Anna's eyes seemed repeating an old admonition to +Nora--"Be patient, poor child; be still." And Nora, passing her hand +across her face, heeded the admonition, gathered courage, and gave +herself up to the perfect enjoyment of the scene and the novelty of the +expedition. + +It was a late spring day--the Valley still verdant with the growing +grain, the mountains mottled with spots of brown where the rain of the +whole winter had failed to make good the ravages of thousands of sheep, +or where, perhaps, a streak of undiscovered mineral lay sleeping in the +earth. Scant groups of trees dotted the Valley at far intervals, ranged +themselves in rows where a little river ran at the foot of the Gabilan, +and stood in lonely grandeur on the highest ridge of the mountain. Where +the mountain sloped it grew covered with redwood, and where the hills +shrank away they left a wide gap for the ocean breeze and the ocean fog +to roll in. + +Across the Valley was another mountain, dark and grand, with flecks of +black growing _chemasal_ in clefts and crevices, and sunny slopes and +green fields lying at its base. And oh! the charm of these mountains. In +the Valley there might be the fog and the chill of the North, but on the +mountains lay the warmth and the dreaminess of the South. + +Keenly the dark eyes of the Spaniard studied the lovely face, flushed, +as it seemed, with the pleasure derived from the drive in the pure air +and the golden sunshine. + +"You like our Valley?" he asked, as eagerly as though she were a +capitalist to whom he intended selling the most worthless portion of his +ranch at the highest possible figure. + +"Not the Valley so much as the mountains," she returned. "We have had +fogs two days out of the week I have spent here, and I fancy I could +escape that if I could get to the top of the mountains." + +"Ah! you like the sunshine and the warm air. You must go farther South +then--far South. I have thought a great deal of going there myself. +There is a beautiful rancho which I can buy--you would like it, I +know,--far down and close by the sea. And the sea is so blue there--just +like the heavens. Oh! you would like it, I know, if you could only see +it," he concluded, enthusiastically, as though this were another ranch +he was trying to sell her. + +But the thought of traffic or gain was very far from his heart just +then, though Don Pedro was known to be an exceptionally good business +man and a close financier. Many of his Spanish compeers looked up to him +with a certain awe on this account. Most of them had parted with their +broad acres, their countless herds, all too easily, to gratify their +taste for lavish display and easy living, with its attendant cost under +the new American _régime_; or had lost them through confiding, with +their generous heart, their guileless nature, to the people whose +thoughts were bent on securing, by usury and knaves' tricks, the +possessions of the very men whose hospitable roof afforded them +shelter. "He can cope with any American," they would say, proudly, +speaking of Don Pedro; and Don Pedro would show his appreciation of the +compliment by exercising his business qualifications towards them, as +well as towards "los Americanos." + +But the haughty Don was well-mannered and agreeable; and after securing +from Nora an indefinite promise that she would some time, when her ankle +got strong, ride his own saddle-horse, he left the ladies safely at +their door and retired, his heart and brain filled with a thousand happy +dreams. He had only once during the ride pointed carelessly across the +valley to where his ranch lay; but Nora had gained no definite idea of +its extent. + +One pleasant afternoon the two sons of Don Pedro stopped at the door. +Their father had encouraged them to call, they said; perhaps the lady +and her sister would bestow upon them the honor of driving out with them +for an hour. Both lads spoke English with elegance and fluency (let the +good fathers of the Santa Clara College alone for that), but among +themselves their mother-tongue still asserted itself; and in their +behavior a touch of the Spanish punctilio distinguished them favorably +from the uncouth flippancy of some of their young American neighbors. + +Nora cheerfully assented, and in a few minutes the whole party was +bowling along,--the eldest brother driving, the younger explaining and +describing the country and its peculiarities. Pablo and Roberto had both +been born on their ranch, though not in the large white house they saw +in the distance. That had been finished only a little while when their +mother died. The _adobe_ which had been their birthplace stood several +miles farther back, and could not be seen from here. + +"It is not on this ranch, then?" queried Nora. + +"Pardon, yes; on this ranch, but several miles nearer the foothills; in +that direction--there." + +"And is the land we are passing over all one ranch?" Nora continued, +persistently. + +"We have been driving over our own land almost since we left town," +replied Pablo, a little proudly. "San Jacinto is one of the largest +ranchos in the county, and the Americans have not yet succeeded in +cutting it up into building-lots and homestead blocks," he added, +laughing a frank, boyish laugh, which seemed to say, "you are as one of +us, and will not take it amiss." + +Sister Anna looked stealthily at Nora, but her eyes, with a strange +light in them, were fixed on the horizon, far off, where they seemed to +read something that made her brow contract and lower a little while, and +then clear off, as, with an effort, she turned to the boy and brought up +some other topic of conversation. But her heart was not in what she +said, and Sister Anna exerted herself to cover the deficiencies that +Nora's drooping spirits left in the entertainment. + +It was sunset when they reached home, and standing on the rose-covered +veranda of the little cottage a moment, Nora looked across to where the +lingering gleams of the sun were kissing the black-looming crown of the +Loma Prieta, with floods of pink and soft violet, and covering all its +base with shades of dark purple and heavy gray. She raised her clasped +hands to the mountain top. + +"How glad, how thankful I could be, if from the wreck and the ruins I +could gather light and warmth enough to cover my past life and its +miseries, as the pink and the purple of the sunset cover the black +dreariness of yon mountain." + +"Come in, Nora, it is getting cold," interrupted Sister Anna; "or the +next thing after having your nerves wrought up so will be a fit of +hysterics." + +"Which, you will say, is one more of the bad effects of Nora's unhappy +marriage." + +If Nora's wilfulness and Nora's unhappy marriage had been ever so +deeply deplored by her, the loss of Sister Anna's love, or Anna's +sisterly kindness, could not be counted among its many bad effects. +Brother-in-law Ben, too, was whole-souled and affectionate; more +practical, and a trifle more far-seeing than Anna; but he never said, "I +told you so." He quietly did all he could to bind up bleeding wounds. + +It soon came to be looked upon as quite a matter of course that Don +Pedro should be seen in his carriage with the two sisters; or, that his +black steed should be led up and down before the cottage door, by one of +his servants, dark of skin, fiery-eyed, and of quiet demeanor, like his +master. Then, again, the sons were seen at the cottage, always +courteous, attentive, and scrupulously polite. If in the privacy of +their most secret communings the "Gringa" was ever spoken of _as_ the +Gringa, it was only in the strictest privacy. Neither to Nora, nor to +any of their servants, did ever look or word betray but that in the fair +young American they saw all that their widowed father desired they +should see. + +The retinue of the Whitehead family consisted of but a single Chinaman, +who was cook, laundress, maid-of-all-work; but during Nora's stay she +was never aware but that she had half-a-dozen slaves to do her bidding, +so careful, yet so delicate was Don Pedro in bestowing his attentions. +He soon hovered about the whole family like one of the _genii_. If Nora +just breathed to herself, "How pleasant the day is--if we only had +carriage and horses"--before the hour was over the Don, with his +carriage, or Don Pedro's boys, or an invitation to ride from the Don, +was at hand. Before she had quite concluded that fruits were not so +abundant or fine in the country as in the city markets, the Don had +contracted a pleasant habit of sending his servants with the choicest of +all his fields and store-houses contained to the little cottage in town. +Fish, fresh from the Bay of Monterey, and game, that plain and mountain +afforded, came in the run of time, quite as a matter of course, to the +kitchen and larder of Don Pedro's dear friend Whitehead. It was not to +be refused. Don Pedro had a hundred points of law that he wished +explained; had so much advice to ask in regard to some tracts of land he +meant to purchase, that Brother-in-law Ben always seemed the one +conferring the greatest favor. + +It was a little singular, too, this friendship of the Don's for Lawyer +Whitehead. As a general thing, the Spanish population of California look +upon our lawyers with distrust, and have a wholesome horror of the law. +Don Pedro, though liberal-minded and enlightened, was not backward in +expressing the contempt he felt for many of our American views and +opinions; but above all he abominated our most popular institution--the +Divorce Court. Not as a Catholic only, was it an abomination to him, he +said. He had often declared to see a divorced woman gave him the same +shuddering sensation that was caused by looking upon a poisonous snake. + +When her ankle had grown quite strong, Don Pedro solicited for Rosa the +honor of carrying Nora for a short ride through the country. And Nora, +mounted high on the shapely animal's back, had seemed in such pleasant +mood when they left her sister's door, that she quite bewildered her +escort by the sudden sharp tone with which she replied to the question +he asked: what feature she admired most in the landscape before them? + +"Those many little lakes," she said. "They have an enticing look of +quiet and rest, and hold out a standing invitation to 'come and get +drowned,' to weary mortals like myself." + +He was too delicate to allow his shocked glance to rise to her face, but +to himself he repeated, "Poor lady! she has much sorrow in her heart," +and aloud he said: + +"You are homesick, Leonora?" How much prettier it seemed to hear the +sonorous voice frame the word "Leonora," than the stiff appellation of +"Mrs. Rutherford," which the Don could hardly ever bring himself to +utter. It was so long, he excused himself, and not the custom of his +country--though, in direct contradiction to the first part of the +excuse, he would slyly smuggle in an addition--Blanca, Graciosa, +Querida--trusting for safety in her lack of acquaintance with the +Spanish tongue. + +"No," she answered honestly to his question, "I have no place to be +homesick for. I am glad to be here; but--" + +"Ah! but you must see the Southern country first," he interrupted, +eagerly. "I am going South this winter to purchase a ranch, on which I +shall make my home. I leave this ranch here to my two boys. Their mother +died here, and the ranch will be theirs. But my ranch in the South will +be very fine; the land is so fair--like a beautiful woman, almost." + +"I shall miss you, if you leave us; particularly through the rainy +winter months," she said. + +"How happy that makes me!" he exclaimed, as once before; and he did now +what had been in his heart to do then--he bent over her hand and kissed +it warmly, heedless of the swarthy Mexican who rode behind his master. + +All through the summer, with its dust and its fog and its glaring sun, +did Don Pedro still find a pleasant hour, early after the fog had risen, +or late after the sun had set, to spend, on horseback or in carriage, +with "the one fair woman" who seemed to fill his whole heart. Sometimes, +when returning from an expedition on which Sister Anna had not +accompanied them, she would greet them on the veranda with uneasy, +furtive eyes; and the Don, blind to everything but his passion for Nora, +still did not observe the impatient answering glance. + +Don Pedro was delicacy and chivalry itself. Bending low over her white +fingers one day, he asked, "And how long was Mr. Rutherford blessed +with the possession of this most sweet hand?" + +"I was married but a year," she answered, with her teeth set, and +quickly drawing back her hand. + +On reaching home she reported to her sister. "Aha," she commented, "he +wants to know how long you have been a widow, and whether it is too soon +to make more decided proposals." + +Then came the early rains, and for Nora fits of passionate crying, +alternating with fits of gloomy depression. Don Pedro was in despair. +Her varying moods did not escape him, and when, to crown all, her ankle, +still weak from the sprain, began to swell with rheumatism, she took no +pains to hide her fretfulness or sadness either from her sister Anna or +the Don. In the midst of the gloom and the rain came Don Pedro one day +to announce that he was about to set out for the South, to conclude the +purchase of the ranch he had so long spoken of. + +"And you are going, too?" she said, lugubriously. + +"I beg you to give me permission to go. I am the slave of Leonora, La +Graciosa, and will return soon. I will not go, if you grant me not +permission; but I beg you let me go for a short time." He had sunk on +his knees by the couch on which she rested, and his eyes flashed fire +into hers for a brief moment; but he conquered himself, and veiled them +under their heavy lashes. "Let me go," he pleaded, humbly, "and give me +permission to return to you, Leonora. In my absence my sons will do all +your bidding. They know the will of their father." + +Nora had extended her hand, and motioned him to a chair beside her +couch, and listened with a smile on her lips to all the arrangements he +had made for her comfort during his absence. + +"Since I have allowed you your own way in everything, I must have mine +in one particular. Of course, you will take a saddle-horse for yourself +besides the spring-wagon. Now you shall not leave Rosa here for me, but +shall take her along for your own use. It is absurd for you to insist +that no one shall use her since I have ridden her; I shall not keep her +here while you are struggling over heavy roads, in the wagon, or on some +other horse." + +It was, perhaps, the longest speech she had ever made to him, and it was +all about himself too, and full of consideration for him--oh! it was +delicious. With fervent gratitude he kissed her hand, called her +Preciosa, Banita, till she declared that he should not say hard things +of her in Spanish any more. He desisted for the time, on her promise +that she would try to be cheerful while he was away, and not get +homesick, unless it were for him; and they became quite gay and sociable +over a cup of tea which Sister Anna brought them into the +sitting-room--so sociable, that Nora said of the Don, after his +departure: + +"If any one were to tell me that a church-steeple could unbend +sufficiently to roll ten-pins of a Sunday afternoon, I should believe it +after this." + +But in a little while the fits of dejection and the fits of crying came +back again. Sister Anna did her best to break them up; she rallied her +on breaking her heart for the absent Don; she tried to interest her in +her surroundings, so that she should see the sungleams that flashed +through the winter's gloom. + +"See this beautiful cala that has just opened in the garden," she would +say, with an abortive attempt at making her believe that her ankle was +strong and well. + +"I cannot get up, miserable creature that I am," came back the dismal +response. + +"Oh, that lovely cloth-of-gold has grown a shoot full half a yard long +since yesterday; come and see." + +"I cannot." + +"Yes, you can; come lean on me. Now, isn't this sunshine delightful for +December?" + +Nora drew a deep breath; after a week's steady rain, the sky was clear +as crystal, and the sun laughed down on hill and valley, blossoming rose +and budding bush. + +"See how the violets are covered with blue, and the honeysuckle has just +reached the farthest end of the porch. Oh, Nora, how can any one be +unhappy with flowers to tend, and a home to keep?" + +"Ah! yes. You are right, sister; but it is your home--not mine." + +Anna laid her arm around her as though to support her. She knew her +sister's proud spirit and yearning heart, and she only whispered, as she +had so often done, "Be patient, poor child; be still." + +But that short, passionate plaint had lightened Nora's heart; after a +week's sunshine the roads were dry enough to ride out once more with Don +Pedro's sons, and when steady rain set in once more after that, she +tried to show her sister that she could take an interest in +"home"--though it was not her own. + +A month had worn away, and as long as the weather permitted the regular +running of the mails, Pablo and Roberto brought greetings from their +father once a week; but when the roads grew impassable, they too were +left without news. Not an iota did they fail of their attention to Nora, +however; whatever dainties the ranch afforded were still laid at her +feet, or rather on her sister's kitchen table; and the roads were never +so bad but that they paid their respects at least twice a week. + +"You have no cause to complain," said Sister Anna. + +"No," replied Nora, with a yawn; "but I wish the Don would come back." + +And he did come back. + +"I am so glad you have come," she said, frankly, meeting him on the +threshold. + +"I can read it in your eyes," he exclaimed, rapturously. "Oh, how happy +that makes me!" And if Sister Anna's head had not appeared behind Nora's +shoulder, there is no telling what might have happened. + +He had brought the spring with him; mountain and valley both had clothed +itself in brightest green, in which the bare brown spots on the Gabilan +Range were really a relief to the satiated eye. In the deep clefts of +the Loma Prieta lay the blackish shade of the _chemasal_, and only one +degree less sombre appeared the foliage of the live-oak against the +tender green of the fresh grass. Again did Nora all day long watch the +sun lying on the mountains--a clear golden haze in the daytime; pink and +violet, and purplish gray in the evening mist. + +"Is it not beautiful?" she asked of Brother-in-law Ben, one evening, as +he came up the street and entered the gate. + +"You are just growing to like our Valley, I see; it is a pity that you +should now be 'borne away to foreign climes.'" + +"And who's to bear me away?" she asked, laughing, as they entered the +house. + +"Let me call Anna," he said; "we will have to hold family council over +this." + +In council he commenced: "Don Pedro has this day requested that I, his +legal adviser, go South with him, to see that all papers are properly +made out, all preliminaries settled, before he fairly takes possession +of his land." + +"Well?" queried Anna. + +"Well, my dear, so much for his counsellor Whitehead. But to his friend +Benjamin's family he has extended an invitation to accompany us on this +trip, presuming that his friend's wife and sister-in-law would be +pleased to see this much-praised Southern country." + +"We'll go, of course," assented Anna, artlessly. + +"Certainly, my dear--of course;" affirmed easy-going Ben. "But, my dear, +I hope you both understand all the bearings of this case." + +Nora's head drooped, and a flush of pain overspread her face, as she +answered, chokingly, "I do." + +"Then, my dear, since Don Pedro has never mentioned Nora's name to me, +except to send message or remembrance, had I not better tell him--" + +"No, no!" cried Nora, in sudden terror. "Oh, please not; leave it all to +me." + +"Certainly, Mrs. Rutherford," he assented, still more slowly; "I am not +the man to meddle with other people's affairs--unasked," he added, +remembering, perhaps, his business and calling. + +"Don't be angry with me, Ben," she pleaded; "you have always been so +kind to me. What should I have done without you two? But you know how I +feel about this--this miserable affair." + +"All right, child," he said, pressing her hand. "I should like to +give you a piece of advice, but my lawyer's instinct tells me that +you will not take it, so that I am compelled to keep my mouth +shut--emphatically." + +They set out on their Southern trip, a grand cavalcade; Don Pedro on a +charger a little taller, a little blacker than Nora's horse; in the +light wagon Anna and her husband, and behind them a heavier wagon +containing all that a leisurely journey through a thinly populated +country made desirable. For attendance they had Domingi, the Don's +favorite servant, two _vaqueros_, and an under-servant, all mounted on +hardy mustangs. Never did picnic party, intent on a day's pleasuring, +leave home in higher spirits. The fresh morning air brought the color to +Nora's cheeks, and her musical laugh rang out through the Valley; and +when they passed one of the little lakes, all placid and glistening in +the bright sun, Nora turned to her companion with a smile: "I don't +think those lakes were meant to drown one's self in, at all; they were +made to cast reflections. See?" and she pointed to herself, graceful and +erect, mirrored in the clear water. + +"Oh, Graciosa," murmured the Spaniard. + +How bright the world looked, to be sure; flowers covered the earth, not +scattered in niggardly manner, as in the older, colder Eastern States, +but covering the ground for miles, showing nothing but a sea of blue, an +ocean of crimson, or a wilderness of yellow. Then came patches where all +shades and colors were mixed; delicate tints of pink and mauve, of pure +white and deep red, and over all floated a fragrance that was never +equalled by garden-flowers or their distilled perfume. + +When twilight fell, and Don Pedro informed them that they would spend +the night under the hospitable roof of his friend, Don Pamfilio +Rodriguez, Nora was almost sorry that, for the complete "romance of the +thing," they could not camp out. + +"We will come to that, too," the Don consoled her, "before the journey +is over. But my friend would never forgive me, if I passed his door and +did not enter." + +"But so many of us," urged Nora, regarding, if the truth must be told, +the small low-roofed _adobe_ house with considerable disfavor. + +"There would be room in my friend's house for my friends and myself, +even though my friend himself should lie across the threshold." + +Nora bowed her head. She knew of the proverbial hospitality of the +Spanish--a hospitality that led them to impoverish themselves for the +sake of becomingly entertaining their guests. + +Of course, only Don Pedro could lift Nora from her horse; but Sister +Anna found herself in the hands of the host, who conducted her, with +the air of a prince escorting a duchess, to the threshold, where his +wife, Donna Carmel, and another aged lady, received them. Conversation +was necessarily limited--neither Don Pamfilio nor Donna Carmel speaking +English, and Brother Ben alone being conversant with Spanish. + +The ladies were shown into a low, clean-swept room, in which a bed, +draped and trimmed with a profusion of Spanish needlework and soft red +calico, took up the most space. Chairs ranged along one wall, and a +gay-colored print of Saint Mary of the Sacred Heart, over the +fire-place, completed the furnishing. Nora pleasantly returned the +salutation of the black-bearded man who entered with coals of fire on a +big garden-spade. Directly after him came a woman, with a shawl over her +head and fire-wood in her arms. She, too, offered the respectful +"_buénos dias_," and she had hardly left when a small girl entered, with +a broken-nosed pitcher containing hot-water, and after her came another +dark-faced man, the _mayordomo_, with a tray of refreshments and +inquiries as to whether the ladies were comfortable. + +Nora dropped her arms by her side. "I have counted four servants +now, and Don Pedro told me particularly that his friend, +Pam--what's-his-name--was very poor." + +"Spanish style," answered Anna, with a shrug of the shoulder. "But it is +very comfortable. How cold it has grown out-doors, and how dark it is. I +wonder if we shall be afraid?" + +"Hush! Don't make me nervous," cried Nora, sharply, shivering with the +sudden terror that sometimes came over her. + +"Be still," said Anna, soothingly; "there is nothing to be afraid of +here." + +After a while they were called to supper, where, to their surprise, they +found quite a little gathering. Neighbors who spoke English had been +summoned to entertain them, and after supper, which was a marvel of +dishes, in which onions, sugar, raisins, and red pepper were softly +blended, and which was served by three more servants, they got up an +_impromptu_ concert, on three guitars, and later an _impromptu_ ball, at +which Nora chiefly danced with the Don. + +In spite of the biting cold next morning, all the male members of last +night's company insisted on escorting our friends over the first few +miles of the road. They came to a stream which they must cross, and of +which Don Pamfilio had warned them, and the Don insisted on Nora's +getting into the wagon with her sister. The _vaqueros_ with their horses +were brought into requisition, and Nora opened her eyes wide when, +dashing up, they fastened their long _riattas_ to the tongue of the +wagon, wound the end of the rope around the horn of the saddle, and with +this improvised four-horse team got up the steep bank on the other side +in the twinkling of an eye. + +Reaching San Luis Obispo directly, they delayed one whole day, as Nora +expressed herself charmed with what she saw of the old mission church, +and what remained of the old mission garden. A group of fig-trees here +and there, a palm-tree sadly out of place, in a dirty, dusty yard, an +agave standing stiff and reserved among its upstart neighbors, the +pea-vine and potato. + +"Oh! it is pitiful," cried Nora, hardly aware of the quotation. "Even +this proud avenue of olives, towering so high above all, has been cut up +and laid out in building-lots." + +"The advance of civilization," Brother Ben informed her; and, in reply, +Nora pointed silently into a yard, where a half-grown palm-tree stood +among heaps of refuse cigar-ends and broken bottles. The house to which +the yard belonged was occupied as a bar-room, and one of its patrons, a +son of Old Erin, to all appearances, lay stretched near the palm, +sleeping off the fumes of the liquor imbibed at the bar. + +They laughed at Nora's illustration, and decided to move from so +untoward a spot that very afternoon, even if they should have to use +their tent and camp out all night. + +More flowers, and brighter they grew as our friend travelled farther +South. On the plain the meadow-lark sang its song in the dew and the +chill of the morning, and high on the mountain, in the still noonday, +the lone cry of the hawk came down from where the bird lived in solitary +grandeur. Wherever our friends went they were made welcome. Not a +Spanish house dare the Don pass without stopping, at least for +refreshments. He had _compadres_ and _comadres_ everywhere, and whether +they approved of his intimate relations with the "Gringas" or not, they +showed always the greatest respect, extended always the most cheerful +hospitality. + +At last they approached Santa Barbara, its white, sun-kissed mission +gleaming below them in the valley as they descended the Santa Inez +Mountains. Stately business houses and lovely country-seats, hidden in +trees and vines--the wide sea guarding all. But they tarried not. Don +Pedro announced that he had promised to make a stay of several weeks at +his particular friend's, Don Enrico del Gada. He was proud to introduce +them to this family, he said. They would become acquainted with true +Castilians--would be witness to how Spanish people lived in the Southern +country; rich people--that is--. They had always been rich, but through +some mismanagement (through the knavery of some American, Nora +interpreted it), they were greatly in danger of losing their whole +estate. A small portion of their rancho had been sold to a company of +land-speculators, and now they were trying to float the title to this +portion over the whole of the Tappa Rancho. + +"Pure Castilian blood," the Don affirmed; "fair of skin, hair lighter +than Nora's tresses, and eyes blue as the sky. Such the male part of the +family. The female portion--mother and daughter--were black-eyed, and +just a trifle darker; but beauties, both. The daughter, Narcissa (Nora +fancied that a sudden twinge distorted the Don's features as he spoke +the name), was lovely and an angel; not very strong, though--a little +weak in the chest." + +All the evening the Del Gadas formed the subject of conversation, so +that it is hardly surprising that morning found Nora arrayed with more +care than usual, if possible, and looking handsome enough to gratify the +heart of the most fastidious lover. + +A two hours' ride brought them to the immediate enclosure of the +comfortable ranch house, and with a sonorous "_buénos dias caballeros!_" +the Don had led his party into the midst of a ring formed by the host, +his son, and other invited guests. Some of them had just dismounted, and +the spurs were still on their boots; some had red silk scarfs tied +gracefully around the hips, and all were handsome, chivalrous, +picturesque-looking men. Don Enrico advanced to assist Anna, while Don +Manuel, his son, strode toward Leonora's horse and had lifted her from +the saddle before Don Pedro could tell what he was about. Such clear +blue eyes as he had! All the sunshine of his native Spain seemed caught +in them; and his hand was so white! Nora's own could hardly vie with it. + +His head was uncovered when he conducted her to the veranda, where the +ladies were assembled. His mother, a beauty still, dark-eyed, +full-throated, and with the haughty look and turn of the head that is +found among the Spanish people; the sister a delicate, slender being, +large-eyed, with hectic roses on her cheeks. Nora detected a strange +glimmer in her eye and a convulsive movement of the lips as she +addressed a question in a low tone to her brother, after the formal +introduction was over. + +"You must excuse my sister," he apologized to Nora, "she speaks no +English. She wanted to know whether you had ridden Rosa. Long ago she +tried to ride the horse, but could not, as she is not strong. When Don +Pedro was here last she wanted to try again; but he would not consent. I +suppose she is astonished at your prowess." + +Nora watched the darkened, uneasy eyes of the girl; she thought she knew +better than the unsuspecting brother what had prompted the question. + +The Del Gada family, their house, their style of living, was all the Don +had claimed for them. The first day or two were devoted mainly to +out-of-door entertainments; the orange-groves, the vineyards, the +almond-plantation on the ranch were visited, and a ride to the mission +of Santa Barbara, whose Moorish bell-towers haunted Nora's brain, was +planned and undertaken. + +The warm light of the spring-day shed a soft glimmer over crumbling +remnants of the monuments that the patient labor of the mission fathers +have left behind them--monuments of rock and stone, shaped by the hands +of the docile aborigines into aqueducts and fountains, reservoirs and +mill-house; monuments, too, of living, thriving trees, swaying gently in +the March wind, many of them laden with promises of a harvest of +luscious apricot or honey-flavored pear. The hands that planted them +have long fallen to dust; the humble _adobe_ that gave shelter to the +patient toiler is empty and in ruins, but the trees he planted flourish, +and bear fruit, year after year; and from the shrine where he once knelt +to worship his new-found Saviour, there echoes still the Ave and the +Vesper-bell, though a different race now offers its devotion. + +A day or two later, winter seemed to have returned in all its fury; the +rain poured ceaselessly, and swelled the creeks till their narrow banks +could hold the flood no longer; the wind tore at the roses, hanging in +clusters of creamy white and dark crimson, on trellises and high-growing +bush, and scattered showers of snow from almond and cherry trees. The +fireplaces in the Del Gada mansion were once more alive and cheerful +with a sparkling fire. It made little difference to the company +assembled at the ranch; it gave Nora and Sister Anna an opportunity of +seeing more of the home-life of the family, and impressed them with the +excellence of the haughty-looking woman at the head of the +establishment. No New England matron could be a more systematic +housekeeper, could be more religiously devoted to the welfare of her +family and servants. "And the romance of it all," Nora often repeated. +Night and morning the far-sounding bell on the little chapel in the +garden called the members of the house to worship; and Donna +Incarnacion, kneeling, surrounded by her family and servants, read in +clear tones the litanies and prayers. Once a week the priest from the +neighboring mission visited the house, and then the large drawing-room +was fitted up with altar and lights and flowers, and neighbors, high and +low, of all degrees, attended worship. + +This, however, did not prevent the family from being as jolly as Spanish +people can well be, in this same drawing-room, when Mass was over, and +"the things cleared away." Of cold or rainy nights the company resorted +to this room, where they had music, conversation, refreshments. But +everything had a dash of romance to Nora's unbounded delight. +Refreshments were brought in on large trays, borne by dusk, dark-clad +women; trays loaded with oranges, pomegranates, figs, the product of the +orchards surrounding the house; and wine, sparkling red and clear amber, +pressed from grapes gathered in the vineyard that crept close up to the +door. It was not only California, but the South, of which Don Pedro had +always spoken with such enthusiasm. + +"And how enthusiastic he does grow sometimes," said Nora one evening, in +the large drawing-room where they were all assembled. + +Manuel, who performed on the piano as well as the flute, had just +finished a piece of music which Nora had taken from her trunk for him to +play, and she had insisted on turning the leaves for him. Don Pedro sat +near, and Nora looking up, had caught his eye. "See the enthusiasm in +his face," she said to Manuel. "How fond all of you Spaniards are of +music." + +"You are mistaken in two points, Donna Leonora," the young man replied. +"Don Pedro is no Spaniard, he is a Mexican; and he has not grown +enthusiastic over the music--he has seen and has been thinking only of +you." + +Nora's cheeks burned at something in Manuel's voice; but a grateful +feeling stole into her heart. To tell the truth, she had felt a pang of +something like jealousy of late, when Narcissa, who, from speaking no +English, was thrown on Don Pedro's hands, seemed to take up more of his +attention than necessary. + +When the weather cleared off, our party began to talk of moving on; Don +Pedro's new possession was only one or two days' journey from here, +below San Buenaventura. There was to be a Rodeo on the Del Gada ranch, +not so much for the purpose of branding young cattle, as to give the +different rancheros an opportunity of selecting their own that might +have strayed into the mountains and found their way into the Del Gada +herds. Nora was for attending the Rodeo; she could hardly form an idea +of what it was; but she was sure, as usual, that it must be something +"highly romantic." + +They were warned that they must get up early in the morning, and seven +o'clock found them already on the ground--a little valley, shut in by +mountains more or less steep. A small creek, made turbulent by the +rains, ran through the valley, where an ocean of stock seemed to roll in +uneasy billows. It was all as romantic as Nora's heart could wish. The +countless herds of cattle gathered together and kept from dispersing by +numbers of _vaqueros_, who darted here and there on their well-trained +horses, leaped ditches, flew up the steep mountain-sides after an +escaping steer, dashed through the foaming torrent to gather one more to +the fold, and seemed so perfectly one with their horse that from here +might have sprung the fable of the old Centaurs. + +Eyes sharper than eagles had these people, master and man alike; out of +the thousands of that moving herd could they single the mighty steer +that bore their brand, or the wild-eyed cow whose yearling calf had not +yet felt the searing-iron. Into the very midst of the seething mass +would a _vaquero_ dart, single out his victim without a moment's halt, +drive the animal to the open space, and throw his lasso with unerring +aim, if a close inspection was desirable--a doubt as to the brand to be +set aside. If a steer proved fractious, two of the Centaurs would divide +the labor; and while one dexterously threw the rope around his horns, +the other's lasso had quickly caught the hind foot, and together they +brought him to the earth, that he had spurned in his strength and pride +but a moment before. + +Manuel himself could not resist the temptation of exhibiting his skill; +and when his father and one of the neighbors--of about fifty miles +away--both claimed a large black bull, almost in the centre of the herd, +he dashed in among the cattle, drove his prey out on a gallop, flung his +lasso around the animal's hind feet, and brought him to the ground as +neatly as any _vaquero_ could have done. + +He saw Nora clap her hands; he saw, too, how every ranchero of the +county had his eyes fixed on her, as she sat proudly, yet so lightly, on +the showy black horse; and sadly he owned to himself that he would risk +life and limb any time, to gain the little hand that wafted him a kiss. +But what was he? A beggar, perhaps, to-morrow, if the suit went against +them. + +Meantime the sun grew hot, and they all dismounted and left the wagons, +and lunch was discussed; the _élite_, Americans and Spaniards alike, +assembling around the Del Gada provision wagon, while the _vaqueros_ +were well satisfied with a chunk of bread, a handful of olives, and a +draught of wine, as they leisurely drove the cattle separated from the +Del Gada herd to their respective territory. + +Then came the parting day. Donna Incarnacion stood on the veranda, as on +the day of their arrival, proudly erect, conscious of herself and the +dignity she must maintain. Beside her stood her daughter, the spots on +her cheeks larger and brighter, but a pained, restless expression in the +eager eyes, and printing itself sharply in the lines about the mouth. +Her mother seemed not to note the girl's evident distress. + +Nora, Mr. and Mrs. Whitehead, and the Don had made their adieux; and +Manuel, mounted and ready to escort them, together with some half dozen +others, turned once more to the veranda to ask his sister some question. +Like a flash the truth broke on him as he caught the eager, straining +glance that followed Don Pedro's form, and with a little passionate cry +he urged his animal close to Nora's side. + +"It is not my heart alone you have left desolate behind you, Leonora. My +sister's, too--oh! my poor Narcissa! Now I know why my mother said that +she would not live to see spring again; now I know why she prays to the +saints for a 'still heart,' night and morning. Oh, Leonora, think no +more of the dagger you have planted in my breast; think of poor +Narcissa, and pray for her as you would for one already dead--for the +love of a Spanish girl is deep and abiding, and cannot be outweighed by +gold and leagues of land and fine clothes." + +It was well that Don Pedro came up; Nora was almost fainting in her +saddle. He did not catch the import of Don Manuel's words, but, if never +before, he recognized in him now a bold and dangerous rival. The +confusion attending a general breaking-up had covered this little +by-scene, and when the party escorting them turned back, it would have +been impossible to discover that one or two hearts throbbed wildly at +the parting words. + +When they rode into San Buenaventura, with its dingy little mission +church fronting on the main street, Nora was not half so much interested +as she had been. They were right in the midst of the mission garden. The +obtrusive frame houses of the fast-crowding American population had been +set up in it; the streets had been laid out through it; the ugly, +brick-built court-house stood away down in the lower part of it, where +the blue ocean washed the shore, and murmured all day of times long past +to the tall-growing palms, that stood desolate and alone. + +It made her sad, she said to the Don, when he expressed his surprise at +her silence, to see the stately olives of a century's growth spread +their great branches over flimsy little shops; to see the neglected +vines trailing their unpruned lengths over rubbish-piled open lots, +which a paper placard announced "for sale." + +When night came, she retired to her up-stairs room at the hotel, put the +light out, and gazed long hours on the placid ocean. + +"Let us get on as soon as possible," said Sister Anna, in confidence, to +her husband the next morning. "This place seems to have a singular +effect on Nora. She says she could not sleep last night, for thinking +whether she had a right to barter herself away, body and soul, truth and +honor, perhaps, for a grand home and a great deal of money." + +So they "got on." Don Pedro was happy to gratify every wish of the +ladies, and very willing to enter upon his own territory, which lay so +near. The earth looked so smiling to Don Pedro when, together with Nora, +a little in advance of the wagons, he crossed the border of his own +domain. All the morning they had passed droves of cattle on the road, +and flocks of sheep, and the _vaqueros_ tending them had still saluted +Don Pedro as their master. Shortly they encountered the _mayordomo_ of +the new ranch, and after a short parley with him, the Don turned to Nora +with an apology for discussing business affairs in an unfamiliar tongue +in her presence. + +"Let us make a compromise," suggested Nora; "do you take me down yonder +to that piece of white pebble-beach, by the gray rock, and you may come +back and talk to all the _vaqueros_ and _mayordomos_ in the land." + +The _mayordomo_ wended his way to where he saw the wagons halting in a +grove, and Nora and the Don pursued their own way. It was quite a +distance before they had reached the exact spot that Nora said she had +meant--they were out of sight of the rest. The ocean, grand and solemn, +lay before them, grassy plains around them, groups of trees and sloping +hills in the near distance, and far off the mountains in their +never-changing rest. + +Lightly Don Pedro sprang to the ground, and detaining Nora one moment in +her saddle, he said, impressively: "Now you set foot upon your own land, +a territory named after you, 'La Graciosa.'" + +Then he lifted her tenderly to the ground, and she sprang lightly away +from him, and lavishly praised the beauty of his new possession. + +"And it is all like this," he continued, "for miles and miles, good and +beautiful, like the one for whom I named it." + +"What a flatterer you are," she said, forced at last to take notice of +the name. He clasped her hand, but she uttered a little shriek, "Oh! +that wicked horse of yours has bitten my poor Rosa." A snort from the +black mare seemed to corroborate the accusation, and Nora had gained +time--to fight her battle out, and make peace with herself. + +"Please get rid of that tiresome _mayordomo_ of yours, and come back to +me. I want to stay here alone with Rosa and decide whether your ranch +has been well named." She could not prevent the kiss he imprinted on her +slender hand, but she drew it back impatiently. + +"You will stay here till I return, Leonora?" he asked, earnestly. + +"Yes, yes," she said, a little fretfully, and waved him off. + +He had made fast her horse to the stump of a scrub-oak, that had lived +its short, mistaken life here close by the sea; and Nora, when the sound +of the other horse's hoofs had died away, stroked the animal's mane +approvingly, and patted her neck. Then she turned and walked slowly +around the abrupt gray crag, and stopped; she was alone at last. She +raised her hand, and looked from under it out on the sunlit sea. The +waves came up with a long, gentle swirl, till the light foam splashed +against the foot of the crag, then receded, leaving a strip of white, +glistening pebble exposed. She watched it silently, then turned her face +to let her eyes sweep the plain, the clumps of trees, and the rolling +hills. + +"'For miles and miles,' he said," she soliloquized, "and that is not all +his fortune. And _he_ has nothing if the suit goes against them. +American cunning matched against Spanish recklessness. But what have I +to do with that boy? All I have wanted and prayed for is a home and an +honored name; it is within my reach now; why should I let an idle dream +stand in my way?" + +She stood where the ocean washed up to her feet, and when she looked +down she thought she saw two deep-blue eyes, wild with suppressed +passion, flashing up from there. She turned, for she thought she heard +behind her, in the sighing of the wind and the shriek of the sea-mews, +the cry of a tortured heart. But she banished these fancies and forced +her thoughts into other channels. She thought of her past life, of the +wish she had had, even as a child, to travel--to see strange lands. She +thought of the Pyramids of Egypt, and that her wish to see them could +now, perhaps, be gratified--in his company. Well, was it not romantic, +after all, to marry the dark-eyed Don, with the haughty bearing and the +enormous wealth? She had a lady friend once, a city acquaintance, who +had married a wealthy Spaniard. But she had been divorced after a year's +time. Divorced! what an ugly sound the word had. Was Don Pedro near? Had +his ear caught the sound? No; thank God, she was alone. + +And then her thoughts strayed again to the old Gada mansion, and the +broken-hearted girl she had left there. "She will die," he had said; and +she fell to wondering whether Father Moreno would anoint those wistful +eyes with the consecrated oil, in her last hour, and mutter that "they +had looked upon unholy things," and touch the little waxen ears "because +they had listened to unchaste speech." What a mockery it seemed, in the +case of the young innocent girl. "When _I_ die--" She stooped suddenly +to dip her hand into the water, and dashed it into her face and over her +hair. "_Mea culpa!_" she murmured, striking her breast, "_mea culpa! mea +maxima culpa!_" + +And once more she pressed her hand across her face, for the gallop of +approaching hoofs fell on her ear, and directly "Leonora!" rang out in +sharp, uneasy tone. + +She answered the call, and Don Pedro, panting, but with a happy smile, +reached out his hand to draw her away from the wet sand. + +"I felt as though I had lost you. What would life be without you, +Graciosa?" + +"You would have my god-child left," she replied, laughing. + +"It would be worthless without the sponsor. I have acquired it for you. +Do you accept it?" + +"With you into the bargain?" she smiled gayly as she said it. She hated +romance and sentimentality all at once, and when the Don kneeled at her +feet to kiss both her hands, she said, with a laugh: + +"There will be but one Graciosa, after all, unless you take me to my +friends and the lunch-basket. I am almost starved." + +"I am your slave," he avowed; "you have but to command." + +He lifted her into the saddle, with trembling hands and beaming eyes. +"Oh, Graciosa! Rightly named," he cried. + +"Meaning me or the ranch?" asked Nora, mischievously; and, with a touch +of the whip, she urged Rosa ahead, and threw a kiss over her shoulder to +the Don. His eyes followed her proudly awhile, ere he spurred his horse +to overtake her, and they joined Sister Anna laughing and happy as she +could wish to see them. + +They camped out that night, as there was no house on that part of the +ranch, though there was one to be erected near the spot where they had +joined Sister Anna, for Nora said she liked the view there. Early next +morning they left camp, expecting to reach Los Angeles before sunset. + +All day the road led along the mountain-chain, in the San Fernando +Valley--a soft, warm day, made to dream and reflect. The clear blue haze +hung, as ever, on the mountain-ridge, and the plain at the foot was +white and odorous with the wild "Forget-me-not" of California. They +looked to Nora as though passionate eyes had been raining tears on them +till the color had been blanched out; and when Don Pedro gathered a +handful and brought them to her, she said, "Don't, please; it hurts me +to see you break them off. Throw them away." + +"How strange you are," he said, but he obeyed, and did not assert his +authority till some hours later, when they reached the crossing of the +Los Angeles River.--Had he not said he would be her slave? + +The river rushed by them muddy and wild, spread far beyond its allotted +limits--an ugly, treacherous-looking piece of water. It was deep, too; +and while Don Pedro was giving orders in regard to arranging the +contents of the baggage wagon, Sister Anna was trying to persuade Nora +to come into their wagon while fording the stream. Nora demurred; but +the Don riding up decided the question at once. + +"You must go in the wagon, Leonora," he announced, with somewhat pompous +authority. "I will not have you exposed to such danger. The river is +wide at present, and your head will get light. Mr. Whitehead and I will +go on horseback, but you must go in the wagon." + +A rebellious gleam shot from Nora's eye, but Sister Anna listened with +flushed face, as to something new, but very pleasant to hear. It proved +an ugly crossing, and while the servants were rearranging the baggage, +the Don strayed a little apart with Nora, and found a seat under a clump +of willows. + +"It _is_ hard to go down into the floods when there is so much of life +and sunshine all around," and with a little nervous shiver she nestled +closer to the Don's side. Impelled by a feeling of tenderness he could +not control, the stately Don threw his arms around the supple form and +pressed the first kiss on her pale lips. + +She shrank from him; had any one seen them? There was no need to spring +up; she knew he would not attempt to repeat the caress. + +The City of the Angels lay before them--a dream realized. + +Whatever there was unlovely about the older, _adobe_ built portion of +the place was toned down by the foliage of waving trees, and warmed into +tropical beauty by the few isolated palms, which some blessed hand set +out long years ago. Our friends did not pass through the heart of the +city, but wended their way to the house of a wealthy Spanish family, +which lay among the gay villas and stately residences of the modern +portion of the city. Large gardens enclosed them, in many cases +surrounded by evergreen hedges of supple willow and bristly osage. Tall +spires arising from a sea of green, and imposing edifices, marked the +places where the Lord could be worshipped in style. The American element +is strong in Los Angeles. + +Senor Don Jose Maria Carillo had been looking for his guests, and met +them with much state and ceremony on the highway, conducting them +grandly to the gate-posts of his garden, where they were received by +Donna Clotilda and a retinue of servants. Even the children, with their +governess, were summoned from the school-room to greet the guests, and +Spanish courtesy and Californian hospitality were never better +exemplified than in the case of our friends. + +"Oh, Annie, only look!" exclaimed Nora, clasping her hands in +admiration, and pointing through the French window at the back of the +double parlors. + +The house was an _adobe_, two stories high, which the father of the +present inmate had built, and of which the son was properly proud. He +would not have it torn down for the world, but it had been modernized to +such an extent as to rival in comfort and elegance any of the newer +American houses, though the Spanish features were still predominant. The +particular feature that had attracted Nora so strongly as to lead her +into making the hasty, unceremonious exclamation, was a _remada_, a kind +of open roof built of heavy timber beams, at the back of the house, and +extending over several hundred feet of the ground. It was covered with +the grape, among whose shading leaves and graceful tendrils the sunlight +glinted in and out, playing in a thousand colors on clustering vines +with bright flowers, that clung to the pillars supporting the roof. +Beyond stretched an orange-grove, where yellow fruit and snowy blossoms +glanced through the glossy leaves. + +"It is beautiful, is it not?" asked a voice at her side. She had stepped +to the open French window, regardless of all etiquette, and Don Pedro +led her across the sill into the covered garden. + +"Your own home shall be like this, Leonora, only finer and grander; you +shall have everything that your heart can wish." + +"You are very good." It was not the conventional phrase with her; she +meant what she said, for her eyes were raised to his, and tears trembled +in the lashes. + +It was a charming retreat. Donna Clotilda spoke English, though none of +the servants did, except a ten-year old Indian girl, who was detailed to +wait on the guests. There was a round of visiting and going through the +city, where every one admired Nora, and looked from her to the little +Don. And Don Pedro was proud and happy, and always sought new +opportunities of passing through the crowded thoroughfares, on foot, on +horseback, or in carriage. + +"My dear," he said, one day, "I would know how handsome you are from +looking at the people who meet us, even though I had never seen your +face." + +"Yes?" said Nora, a little absent and dispirited, as she sometimes was. + +"Yes; one man, standing at the corner there, behind those boxes--you did +not see him--opened his eyes very wide and looked hard at you, and then +pushed his hat back till it fell to the ground. Then he saw me, and felt +ashamed, and turned quick to pick up his hat." + +"What a striking appearance mine must be!" laughed Nora, restored to +good-humor, for the time. + +It has often seemed to me that all Spanish people, of whatever degree, +throughout California, are either related or intimately acquainted with +each other. Thus Nora heard from the Del Gadas occasionally; nay, even +from the Rodriguez, away back in the Salinas Valley, did they hear news +and greeting once. Narcissa del Gada was dying, the Don told her; and +the twinge that had distorted his features when he first mentioned her +name again passed over them. + +But all the time of our friends was not given to pleasuring; many a long +morning did Brother Ben and the Don pass together at the Court-House, +the Hall of Records, and other places where titles are examined and the +records kept. A ranch of twenty or thirty thousand acres is well worth +securing, so that through no loophole can adverse claimant creep, or +sharp-witted land-shark, with older title, spring on the unwary +purchaser. + +In the meantime spring was growing into summer; the sun began to burn +more fierce, and Nora, always fond of out-doors, had made the _remada_ +her special camping-ground. She sat there one morning, after having +declined to go on a shopping expedition with Sister Anna. It had seemed +rather ungracious, too; but Brother Ben had come to the rescue, as +usual, and had taken Nora's place. Now she sat here, pale and listless, +her hands idly folded, her eyes wandering among the shadows of the +orange grove. + +There had been an arrival at the house, she thought, for she heard the +tramp of a horse as it was led around to the stables; but she took no +heed. After a while she heard the noise of one of the long windows +opening, and soon she heard steps behind her. Then a low voice said +"Leonora!" and Manuel, pale and haggard, stood before her. + +All her listlessness vanished in an instant, and she would have flown +into his arms, but for something that seemed to make him unapproachable. + +"Narcissa is dead," he said, monotonously, "and since coming to town I +have learned that I am a beggar; we are all homeless--outcasts." + +"Oh, Manuel!" she cried, laying her hand on his arm, "my poor, poor boy. +Come with me into the open air--this place chokes me. And now tell me +about Narcissa." She drew him out into the sunshine, and back again to +the fragrant shadows of the orange grove. She sought a rustic seat for +them, but he threw himself on the sod beside it. + +"Wrecked and lost and lonely," he groaned, "it is well that Narcissa is +dead; and yet she was our only comfort." + +"Poor Manuel!" she repeated, softly; "my poor boy." Her fingers were +straying among the sunny waves of his hair, and he caught her hand +suddenly, and covered it with a frenzy of kisses. + +"Leonora!" he cried, all the reckless fire of his nation breaking into +flames, "come with me, and we will be happy. You do not love your +wealthy affianced, you love me. Be mine; I will work and toil for you, +and you shall be my queen. Oh, Nora, I love you--I love you--I love +you." + +Poor Nora! why should stern reality be so bitter? "Foolish boy," she +said, disengaging her hand, "you are mad. What if Don Pedro--" + +"Ah, true; I had forgotten--you are an American. Go, then, be happy with +your wealthy husband; Manuel will never cross your path again." + +"Manuel!" she cried, and she stretched out her arms towards the spot +where he had just stood, "come back, for I love you, and you alone." But +a rustling in the willow-hedge only answered to her passionate cry, and +she cowered on the garden-bench, sobbing and moaning out her helpless +grief. + +The rustling in the willow-hedge behind her grew louder, so that even +she was startled by the noise. + +"Ho, Nell!" The words fell on her ears like the crack of doom, her face +grew white to the very lips, and a great horror crept into her eyes. She +turned as if expecting to meet the engulfing jaws of some dread monster, +and her eyes fell upon the form of a man, whose slovenly dress and +bloated features spoke of a life of neglect and dissipation--perhaps +worse. + +"Why, Nell, old girl," he continued, familiarly, "this is a pretty +reception to give your husband. I'm not a ghost; don't be afraid of me." + +"Wretch!" she cried, trembling with fear and excitement. "How dare you +come here? Go at once, or I shall call for help." + +"No, you won't. I'm not afraid. Come, you can get rid of me in a minute. +The truth is, I'm d----d hard up; got into two or three little +unpleasantnesses, and got out only by a scratch. I want to get away from +here--it's unhealthy here for me--but I've got no money. Saw you down +town with that pompous Greaser the other day; know him well; he's got +lots of money; and I thought that, for love and affection, as they say +in the law, and in consideration of our former relations, you might help +me to some of his spare coin." + +"You miserable man," she cried, beside herself, "is it not enough that +you blasted my life's happiness? Must I be dragged down to the very +lowest degradation with you? Oh, Charlie," she added, in changed, +softened tones, "what would your mother say to all this?" + +"And my daddy the parson," he laughed, hoarsely. "Yes, we know all that. +But here, Nell," he went on, while a last glimmer of shame or contrition +passed over his once handsome face, "I don't want to hurt you, my girl; +you've always been a trump, by G----; I am willing you should become the +respected wife of Don Pedro Lopez, but I must have money, or money's +worth. That cluster-diamond on your finger; tell the Greaser you lost +it. Or pull out your purse; I know it is full." + +"Nothing," she said, slowly and determinedly, "nothing shall you have +from me--a woman you have so wronged and deceived--" + +"Stop, Nell; I haven't time to wait for a sermon. Give me what you've +got-- Oh, here's h---- to pay and no pitch hot," he interrupted himself; +"there's the Don, and he's heard it all." + +He spoke true; Don Pedro stood beside them, frozen into a statue. At +last he breathed. + +"Yes, heard all. And I would have made you my wife--you a divorced +woman. Oh, Santa Maria! She divorced of such a man--for I know you, +Randal," he continued, lashing himself into a fury--"horse-thief, +stage-robber, gambler. It was you who killed my friend Mariano Anzar +after robbing him at cards--murderer! You shall not escape me as you +escaped the officers of the law. _Hombres!_ catch the murderer!" he +shouted towards the house, as he made a dart at the man, who turned at +bay, but halted when he saw that the Don was not armed. + +"Stop your infernal shouting and don't touch me," he said, in a low, +threatening voice. But the Don was brave, and his blood was up; he +sprang upon the man, shouting again; they closed and struggled, and when +the man heard footsteps swiftly approaching, he drew back with an +effort, and hissing, "You _would_ have it so, idiot," he raised his +pistol and fired. + +Before the smoke cleared away he had vanished, and the people who came +found Don Pedro stretched on the ground. His life was almost spent, but +his energy had not deserted him. He gave what information and directions +were necessary for the prosecution of his murderer, and Manuel, who was +among the excited throng, threw himself on his horse to head the +fugitive off. The others lifted the wounded man tenderly from the +ground, bore him gently into the house, and frowned with hostile eyes +upon Nora; it had taken possession of their minds at once that, in some +unexplained manner, the Gringa was the cause of all this woe. + +Nora followed them like an automaton; she saw them carry him through +the open door-window into the back parlor, and lay the helpless figure +on a lounge. A messenger had already been despatched for priest and +doctor, and the servants, who were not admitted into the room, lay on +their knees outside. + +Then the priest came, and Nora, in a strange, dazed way, could follow +all his movements after he went into the room. The odor of burning +incense crept faintly through the closed doors, and she wondered +again--did the priest touch the white lips and say, "for they have +uttered blasphemies." The fingers were stiffening, she thought; would +the priest murmur now--"for with their hands do men steal;" the eyelids +were fluttering over the glazed eyes; the cleansing oil was dropped upon +them, for "they had looked upon unholy things." + +She saw it all before her, and heard it, though her eyes were fast +closed, and her ears were muffled, for she had fallen, face down, by one +of the pillars supporting the _remada_, and the thick-growing tropical +vine, with its bright, crimson flowers, had buried her head in its +luxuriant foliage, and seemed raining drops of blood upon the wavy dark +brown hair. + +Thus Manuel found her when he returned from the pursuit of the fugitive. +He raised her head, and looked into large, bewildered eyes. "What is +it?" she asked; "have I been asleep? Oh, is he dead?" + +"The wretched man I followed? Yes; but my hand did not lay him low. The +sheriff and his men had been hunting him; he attempted to swim the river +at the ford; the sheriff fired, and he went down into the flood." + +Nora's eyes had closed again during the recital, and Manuel held a +lifeless form in his arms, when Sister Anna and her husband came at +last. They had heard of the shooting of Don Pedro in the city, and the +carriage they came in bore Nora away to the hotel. Manuel did not +relinquish his precious burden till he laid the drooping form gently on +the bed at the hotel. Then the doctor came, and said brain-fever was +imminent, and the room was darkened, and people went about on tip-toe. +And when the news of the death of Don Pedro Lopez was brought down to +the hotel, Nora was already raving in the wildest delirium of the fever. + + +Weeks have passed, and Nora has declared herself not only well, but able +to return home. Manuel has been an invaluable friend to them all, during +these weeks of trial, and Nora has learned to look for his coming as she +looks for the day and the sunshine. + +To him, too, was allotted the task to impart to Nora what it was thought +necessary for her to know--the death of Don Pedro and the finding of the +body of the other, caught against the stump of an old willow, where the +water had washed it, covered with brush and floating _débris_. But he +had glad news to impart, too; the report of an adverse decision from +Washington on the Del Gada suit had been false, and circulated by the +opposing party in order to secure better terms for withdrawal. + +One morning Nora expressed her wish to leave Los Angeles, and Mr. +Whitehead did not hesitate to gratify her wish. An easy conveyance was +secured, the trunks sent by stage, and a quick journey anticipated. +Manuel went with them only as far as San Buenaventura, he said, for it +was on his way home. But when they got there, he said he must go to +Santa Barbara, and no one objected. At Santa Barbara Nora held out her +hand to him, with a saucy smile: + +"This is the place at which you were to leave us; good-by." + +"Can you tolerate me no longer, Nora?" + +"You said at San Buenaventura you would try my patience only till here. +How long do you want me to tolerate you, then?" + +"As long as I live. Why should we ever part? Be my wife, Nora," and he +drew her close to him, pressing his lips on hers; and she did not shrink +away from him, but threw her arm around his neck, to bend his head down +for another kiss. + +"But you would never have married me--a poor man," he says, bantering. + +"Nor would you have married me--a divorced woman," she returns, +demurely. + + + + +_JUANITA._ + + +"Every man in the settlement started out after him; but he got away, and +was never heard of again." + +I had listened quietly to the end, though my eyes had wandered +impatiently from the face of the man to the region to which he pointed +with his finger. There was nothing to be seen out there but the hot air +vibrating over the torn, sandy plain, and the steep, ragged banks of the +river, without any water in it--as is frequently the case at this season +of the year. The man who had spoken--formerly a soldier, but, after his +discharge from the army, station-keeper at this point--had become so +thoroughly "Arizonified" that he thought he was well housed in this +structure, where the mud-walls rose some six feet from the ground, and +an old tent was hung over a few crooked _manzanita_ branches for a roof. +There was a wide aperture in the wall, answering the purpose of a door; +and a few boards laid on trestles, and filled in with straw, which he +called his bunk. He had raised it on these trestles, partly because the +snakes couldn't creep into the straw so "handy," and partly because the +_coyotes_, breaking down the barricade in the doorway one night, hunting +for his chickens, had brought their noses into unpleasant proximity with +his face while lying on the ground. He had confided these facts to me +early in the morning, shortly after my arrival, continuing his discourse +by a half-apology for his naked feet, to which he pointed with the +ingenuous confession that "he'd run barefooted till his shoes wouldn't +go on no more." He held them up for my inspection, to show that he had +them--the shoes, I mean, not the feet--a pair of No. 14's, entirely +new, army make. + +We had arrived just before daybreak, my escort and I having made a "dry +march"--which would have been too severe on Uncle Sam's mules in the +scorching sun of a June day--during the night. The morning, flashing up +in the East with all the glorious colors that give token of the coming, +overpowering heat, brought with it also the faint, balmy breath of wind +in which to bathe one's limbs before the sun burst forth in its burning +majesty. Phil, the ambulance-driver, and my oracle, said I could wander +off as far as I wanted without fear of Indians; so I had ascended the +steep hill back of the station, and, spying what looked like a graveyard +at the foot of it, on the other side, I had immediately clambered down +in search of new discoveries. I knew that there had formerly been a +military post here: it is just so far from the Mexican border that +fugitives from the law of that country would instinctively fly this way +for refuge; and just near enough the line where the "friendly Indian" +ceases to be a pleasant delusion, to make the presence of a strong +military force at all times necessary for the protection of white +settlers. But there are none; and Uncle Sam, protecting his own property +"on the march" through here as well as possible, allows the citizen and +merchant to protect himself and his goods the best way he can. Why the +camp had been removed, I cannot tell--neither, perhaps, could those who +occupied it--but I am pretty sure they were all very willing to go. I've +never seen the soldier yet that wasn't glad of a change of post and +quarters. + +There were quite a number of graves in this rude burying-ground (I don't +like that name, on the whole; but it seemed just the proper thing to +call this collection of graves), and among them were two that attracted +my attention particularly. The one was a large, high grave, with rather +a pretentious headstone, bearing the inscription: + + + "TO THE MEMORY OF JAMES OWENS, + Who came to his death May 20, 186-." + + +The other seemed smaller, though it was difficult to determine the exact +dimensions, on account of the rocks, bones, and dry brush piled on it. +It is the custom of the Mexicans in passing by a grave to throw on it a +stone, a clump of earth, or a piece of brush or bone, if they have +nothing else, as a mark of respect: so I concluded at once that some one +of that nationality lay buried here. One, too, who had some faithful +friend; for there was a look about the grave that spoke of constant +attention and frequent visits to it. + +On my return, having done justice to the breakfast the station-keeper +had prepared (and for which he had killed one of his chickens, in order +to "entertain me in a lady-like manner," as he said to Phil), I +questioned him about the American whose grave I had seen out there. +Before he could answer, a shadow fell across the doorway, and I half +rose from the ambulance-cushion I was occupying, when I saw an Indian, a +young fellow of about twenty, stand still in front of it, half hiding +the form of an aged crone, on whose back was fastened a small bundle of +fire-wood, such as is laboriously gathered along the beds and banks of +water-courses, in this almost treeless country. The Indian stooped to +lift the load from the woman's back; and she turned to go, without even +having lifted her eyes, either to the ambulance that stood near the +doorway, the soldiers that lounged around it, or myself. The +station-keeper seized an old tin-cup, filled it with coffee, piled the +remains of the breakfast on a tin-plate, and disappeared in the doorway. +Returning, he answered me, at last: + +"The grave you saw was dug for a man that lived here while I was yet a +soldier in the ---- Infantry at this camp. He had brought a Spanish +woman with him, his wife, with whom he lived in one of those houses, +right there, on the bank of the river. He had sold some horses to the +Government, at Drum Barracks, and was sent out here with them; and +seeing that it was quite a settlement, he thought he'd stay. _She_ was a +mighty fine-looking woman--a tall, stoutish figure, with as much pride +as if she had been a duchess. Among the Mexicans in the settlement was a +man who, they said, had been a brigand in Mexico, had broken jail, and +come here, first to hide, and then to live. It warn't long till he began +loafering about Owens' place; and one night, while Owens was standing in +his door, smoking, there was a shot fired from the direction of the +hill, behind this place, and Owens fell dead in his own doorway. There +was no doubt in anybody's mind who the murderer was, for his cabin was +empty, and he could be found nowhere about camp. The soldiers, as well +as the other fellows, were determined to lynch him, and every man in the +settlement started out after him; but he got away, and no one ever heard +of him again." + +"And the woman?" I asked. + +"Oh, nobody could hurt her; and she raved and ranted dreadful for +awhile. But she turned up absent one morning, about a week after we had +put him under the ground, and her husband's watch and money had gone +with her." + +"But," said I, impatiently, "where is the settlement you speak of? I +have not found a trace of it yet." + +"Well, you see, they were _adobe_-houses that they built, and the rains +were very heavy last year, and the Gila commenced washing out this way; +the banks caved in and carried the rubbish away. They hadn't been +occupied for some time; but the house where Owens lived is just right +across there--if you go near the bank you can see where he built a good, +solid chimbley, like they've got at home. The camp used to be down the +flat apiece. I had my house there last year; but it washed away with the +rain: so I built up here, where there's better shelter for my chickens. +They're my only friends, besides Bose, and I've got to be choice of 'em. +I don't see a white face for months, sometimes, since the war is over, +and it keeps me company kinder, to see the places where the houses used +to be." + +"And the other grave--that with the bones and rocks piled on it?" + +The man threw a look toward the doorway, and put his hands in his +pockets. + +"That's Juanita's grave. She was an Indian girl." + +He walked out of the door; and, as I had nothing better to do, I too +stepped out, thinking to go as far to look for the ruins of that +"chimbley" as the blazing sun would permit. The first I saw when I came +out of the doorway was the old Indian woman, sitting on the ground in +the shade of the house, her back against the wall, her knees drawn up, +her elbow resting on them, the doubled fist supporting the face, while +the other hand hung listlessly across them. The face was aged and +wrinkled, the hair a dirty gray, and the eyes seemed set--petrified, I +had almost said--with some great, deep sorrow. Beside her stood the +tin-cup, untouched and unnoticed; the tin-plate had been almost emptied +of its contents; but a drumstick in the hands of the young Indian, and a +suspicious glossiness about his mouth and chin, seemed to mark the road +the chicken had taken. The station-keeper stood by the woman, and said +something to her in a jargon I could not understand; but she took no +more notice of him or what he said than if it were a fly that had buzzed +up to her. She moved neither her eyes nor her head, looking out straight +before her. I walked as far as the banks of the river, failed to +discover the remains of the "chimbley," and turned back to the house. +The station-keeper was not to be seen; the Indian boy paused from his +labors to take a look at me; but the woman seemed to be a thousand miles +away, so little did she take heed of my presence. + +It was nearly noon, and I concluded to pass the rest of the day in +sleep, as we were to leave the station at about ten in the night, when +the moon should be up. The "whole house" had been given up to me, and a +comfortable bed arranged out of mattress and wagon-seats, so that I felt +comparatively safe from prowling vermin, and soon went to sleep. I awoke +only once, late in the afternoon; the station-keeper was saying +something in a loud voice that I could not understand, and, directly, I +saw two pair of dusky feet passing by the space that the blanket, hung +up in the doorway, left near the ground. After awhile I raised the +blanket, and saw the Indians trudging along through the sandy plain, the +woman following the tall, athletic form of the man, the yellow sun +burning fiercely down on their bare heads, scorching the broad, prickly +leaves of the cactus, and withering its delicate, straw-colored, and +deep-crimson flowers. I dropped the curtain, panting for breath: it was +too hot to live while looking out into that glaring sunshine. + +Later, when I could sleep no more, and had made my desert toilet, I +stood in the doorway, and saw the two Indians coming back as in the +morning: the woman with a bundle of fire-wood on her shoulders, the man +walking empty-handed and burdenless before her. I turned to the +station-keeper, and pointing to the bundle she had brought in the +morning, and which lay untouched by the wall, I said, indignantly: + +"It seems to me you need not have sent the poor woman out in the blazing +sun to gather fire-wood, when you had not even used this. You might have +waited till now." + +"She--she would have been somewhere else in the blazing sun; she was +just going--" And he stopped--as he had spoken--in haste, yet with some +confusion. + +I cast a pitying look on the woman, which, however, she heeded no more +than the rose-pink and pale-gold sunset-clouds floating above her, and +then wandered slowly forth toward the hill, which I meant to climb +while the day was going down. + +When I reached the top, the light, flying clouds had grown heavy and +sad, and their rose hue had turned into a dark, sullen red, with tongues +of burning gold shooting through it--the history of Arizona, pictured +fittingly in pools of blood and garbs of fire. But the fire died out, +and a dim gray crept over the angry clouds; and then, slowly, slowly, +the clouds weaved and worked together till they formed a single heavy +bank--black, dark, and impenetrable. + +Just as I turned to retrace my steps, my eyes fell on a group of low +bushes, which would have taken the palm in any collection of those +horribly dead-looking things that ladies call phantom-flowers. So +pitilessly had the sun bleached and whitened the tiny branches, that not +a drop of life or substance seemed left; yet they were perfect, and +phantom-bushes, if ever I saw any. How well they would look on those +graves below, I thought, as I approached to break a twig in remembrance +of the strange sight. But how came the red berries on this one? I +stooped, and picked up--a rosary; the beads of red-stained wood, the +links and crucifix of some white metal, and inscribed on the cross the +words, "_Souvenir de la Mission_." How had it come there? Had ever the +foot of devout Catholic pressed this rocky, thorny ground? Of what +mission was it a gift of love and remembrance? Surely it had not lain +here a hundred years--the gift of love from one of the Spanish _padres_ +of the Arizona Missions to an Indian child of the church! Or had it come +from one of those California Missions, where the priests to this day +read masses to the descendants of the Mission Indians? Yonder, in the +west, with the purplish mists deepening into darkness in its cleft +sides, was the mountain which to-morrow would show us "Montezuma's +face," and here lay the emblem of peace, of devotion to the one living +God. Perhaps the station-keeper could solve the mystery; so I hastened +back through the gloom that was settling on the earth, unbroken by any +sound save the distant yelping of a _coyote_, who had spied me out, and +followed me, as though to see if I were the only one of my kind who had +come to invade his dominion. + +"See what I have found!" I cried exultingly, when barely within speaking +distance of the station-keeper, who stood within the doorway. + +In a moment he was beside me, calling out something in his +Indian-Spanish, which seemed to electrify the woman, who still sat by +the _adobe_ wall. Springing up with the agility of a panther, she was by +my side, pointing eagerly to my hand holding the rosary. + +"What does she want?" I asked, in utter consternation. + +"The rosary; give her the rosary"--the barefooted man was speaking +almost imperiously--"it's hers; she has the best right to it." + +"Gladly," I said; but she had already clutched it, and turned tottering +back to the mud-wall, against which she crouched, as though afraid of +being robbed of her new-found treasure. + +The man turned to me in evident excitement: "And you found it! Where? +She has been hunting for it these years--day after day--in the blazing +sun and streaming rain; and _you_ found it. Well, old Screetah's eyes +are getting blind--she's old--old." + +"But her son might have found it, if he had looked; for I found it just +up on the hill there," I suggested. + +"He's not her son; only an Indian I kept to look after her, kinder; for +she's been brooding and moping till she don't seem to notice nothing no +more. But now she's found it, maybe she'll come round again, or go on to +Sonora, where, she says, her people are." + +"How came she to lose it, then, if it was so precious?" + +"She didn't lose it--but, I forget everything; supper's been waiting +on; if you'll eat hearty, I'll tell you about those beads after a while. +The moon won't rise till after ten, and you've good three hours yet." + +I was so anxious to hear about the beads, that I would not give the man +time to wash dishes; though he insisted on putting away the china cup +and plate, which he kept for State occasions, when he saw my disposition +to let Bose make free with what was on the table--table being a +complimentary term for one of the ambulance-seats. + +In the days when this had been a military post, garrisoned by but one +company of the ---- Infantry, the station-keeper had been an enlisted +man, and the servant of Captain Castleton, commanding the camp and +company. Young, handsome, and generous, the men were devoted to their +captain, though as strict a disciplinarian as ever left the military +school. The little settlement springing up around the camp was chiefly +peopled by Indians and Mexicans, and only two or three Americans. When +Captain Castleton had been here just long enough to get desperately +tired of the wearisome solitude and monotony of camp, and had put in +motion whatever influence his friends had with the authorities at +head-quarters to relieve him of the command of the post and the inactive +life he was leading, an Indian woman and her daughter came into the +settlement one evening, and found ready shelter with the hospitable +Mexicans. That she was an Indian was readily believed; but that the girl +with her belonged to the same people, was not received with any degree +of faith by those who saw her. She was on her way back to Sonora, she +said, to her own people, from whence she had come with her husband, +years ago, along with a pack-train of merchandise, for some point in +Lower California. From there she had gradually drifted, by way of San +Diego, into California, up to Los Angeles, and on to some Mission near +there, where she had lived among the Mission Indians, after her +husband's death, and where Juanita had been taught to read, write, and +sing by the Mission priests. + +At last Screetah had concluded to go back to Sonora, and had drifted +downward again from Los Angeles, to Temescal, to Temacula, to Fort Yuma, +and through the desert, till, finally, some compassionate Mexicans had +carried her and the girl with them through the last waterless stretch to +this place. The girl, with her velvety eyes and delicately turned limbs, +soon became the favorite and the adored of every one in camp and +settlement; and, though that branch of her education to which her mother +pointed with the greatest pride--reading and writing--had never taken +very deep root in the girl's mind, she sang like an angel, and looked +"like one of them pictures where a woman's kneeling down, with a crown +around her head," while she was singing. Indeed, the religious teachings +of the good priests seemed to have sunk deeply into the gentle heart of +Juanita, and her greatest treasure--an object itself almost of +devotion--was a rosary the priest had given her on leaving the Mission. +It had been impressed on her, that "so long as these beads glided +through her fingers, while her lips murmured _Aves_ and _Pater-nosters_, +night and morning, so long were the angels with her. Did the angels take +the rosary from her--which would happen if Juanita forgot the teachings +of the priests, and no longer laid her heart's inmost thoughts before +the Blessed Mother--then would she lose her soul's peace and her hopes +of heaven; and she must guard the sacred beads as she would her own +life." + +There was no point of resemblance between Juanita and the old Indian +woman; and the girl, though warmly attached to her, declared that she +was not her mother, only her nurse or servant. Her mother, she said, had +been a Spanish Doña, and her father a mighty chief of his tribe, whose +head had been displayed on the gate of some Mexican fortress for weeks +after it had been delivered to the Government by some treacherous Indian +of his band. Juanita's personal appearance, the fluency with which she +spoke Spanish, her very name even, seemed to confirm her accounts, dim +and confused as the recollections of her earliest childhood were; +nevertheless, she had "Indian in her," as the man said, for she proved +it before she died. + +But to return to the time of their arrival in camp. Screetah seemed in +no hurry to resume her journey through the burning desert; and, as +Captain Castleton said, he would no doubt have retained her by force +rather than let her drag the poor child through the waterless wastes +into sure destruction. He had given them an old tent after they had been +with their Mexican friends for nearly a week; and when these same +Mexicans left the camp, the two women were given possession of their +house. Here it became a source of never-ending delight to the old Indian +that all the choice things by which she set such store, and which among +her "civilized" Indian friends had been so scarce, as coffee, sugar, and +bacon, were served out to her as though they rained down from the sky. +But to do Screetah justice, the sweetest side of bacon and the biggest +bagful of sugar never gave her half the pleasure that she felt when one +of the soldiers gave to Juanita a lank, ragged pony, which, on a scout, +he had bought, borrowed, or stolen from an Indian at the Maricopa Wells. +Her time was now pretty equally divided between the rosary and the pony, +which, in time, lost its ragged, starved appearance, under her +treatment, and retained only its untamable wildness, and the +unconquerable disposition to throw up its hindlegs when running at full +tilt, as though under apprehension that the simple act of running did +not give an adequate idea of its abilities. At first, Captain Castleton, +highly amused, would call for his horse when he saw Juanita battling +with her vicious steed on the plain near camp, in order to witness the +struggles of "the wild little Indian" near by. But, after awhile, they +would ride forth together, and dash over the level ground or climb up to +the highest point of the hill--Juanita's voice ringing back to the camp +almost as long as she was in sight, chanting some wild anthem, in which +seemed blended the joyous strains of the heavenly band and the wild song +of the savage when he flies like an arrow through his native plains. + +Old Screetah's low-roofed _adobe_ had assumed quite an air of comfort +through the exertions of some good-natured soldiers, and more +particularly through the manifestations of Captain Castleton's favor. +From a passing pack-train, laden with Sonora merchandise, he had bought +the matting that covered the mud-floor; the sun-baked pottery-ware was +Screetah's greatest boast, as it came from the same province--her +birthplace; and the bright-colored Navajo blanket had been bought with +many a pound of bacon and of coffee--articles more precious far in this +country than the shining metal which men risk their lives to find here. +No wonder that the captain passed more of his time in Screetah's hut +than in his white wall-tent, where the sun, he said, blinded him, +beating on the fly all day long; and where the slightest breeze brought +drifts of sand with it. That Juanita seemed to live and breathe only for +him had come to be a matter of course. Among the Mexicans it was +accepted that at a certain phase or change of the moon there had been +some words spoken, or some rite performed, by old Screetah, which, +according to their belief, constituted Indian marriage; and both seemed +happy as the day is long. + +Like a thunderbolt from the clear sky it struck him one day, when the +mail-rider brought official letters advising him of the change that had +been made in his favor. He was directed to proceed at once to Drum +Barracks, there to await further orders! It was, perhaps, the first time +that he experienced the curse of having his most ardent wishes +gratified. For days he wandered about like the shadow of an evil +deed--restless from the certainty of approaching judgment, and fainting +with the knowledge that he was powerless to ward off the coming blow. It +was hard to make Juanita understand the situation, and the necessity of +parting; but when she had once comprehended that she was to be +abandoned--a fate which, to her, meant simply to be thrust out on the +desert and left to die--the Indian blood flowed faster in her veins, and +rose tumultuously against the fair-faced image that her heart had +worshipped. What was life to her with the light and warmth gone out of +it? He was leaving her to die; and die she would. + +When the little cavalcade, ready and equipped for the march, was about +to leave the camp, Juanita was nowhere to be found. For hours the +captain sought her in every nook they had explored together, and called +her by every endearing name his fancy had created for her. Juanita's +pony was gone from his accustomed place, and he knew it would be useless +to await her return. Captain Castleton was not a coward; the searching +glances he sent into every _cañon_ they passed, and among the sparse +trees on their road, were directed by the burning desire to meet the +dearly loved form once more; but they would not have quaked had the +arrow Juanita knew so well to speed, sank into his heart instead. + +Days passed ere Juanita returned; and, though Screetah grovelled at her +feet with entreaties not to leave her again, and the soldiers showed +every possible kindness and attention to the girl, she was seldom seen +among them. Sometimes, at the close of day, she was seen suddenly rising +from some crevice in the hill, where she had clambered and climbed all +day; but oftener she was discovered mounted on her pony, her long, black +hair streaming, her horse in full gallop, as though riding in pursuit of +the setting sun. No word of complaint passed her lips; no one heard her +draw a sigh, or saw her shed a tear; and none dared to speak a word of +comfort. But when Screetah tried to cheer her, one day, she held out her +empty hands, saying, simply, "I have the rosary no more!" Then Screetah +knew that all hope was lost, and she pleaded no more, but broke the +beautiful, sun-baked pottery, tore the matting from the floor, and +crouched by the threshold from noon to night, and night till morning, +waiting quietly for the silent guest that she knew would some day, soon, +enter there with Juanita. + +One day, she came slowly down from the hill and entered the dark +_adobe_, where Screetah sat silent by the door. + +"A little cloud of dust is rising on the horizon," she said to the old +Indian, "and I must prepare;" and Screetah only wailed the death-song of +her race. + +Though Juanita had returned on foot, she had ridden away on the pony the +day before, and the soldiers started out to look for the animal, +thinking it had escaped from her, or had been stolen by some marauding +Indian. But they found the carcass not far from camp--with Juanita's +dagger in the animal's heart. The next day she went to the top of the +hill again, and when night came, she said, "The cloud grows bigger." On +the third day, when Juanita lay stretched on the hard, uncomfortable +bed, denuded of all its gay robes and blankets, a sudden excitement +arose outside, such as the signs of anything approaching camp always +create. A hundred different opinions were expressed as to what and who +it could be. Nearer and nearer came the cloud of dust, and a cry of +surprise went up, as the horse fell from fatigue on the edge of the +camp, and the rider took his way to old Screetah's hut. + +What passed within those dark, low walls--what passionate appeals for +forgiveness, what frantic remorse and bitter self-accusations they +echoed--only Screetah and the dying girl knew. The old Indian was +touched, and tried to plead for him; but Juanita seemed to heed neither +the man's presence nor the woman's entreaties. She died "with her face +to the wall," and the words of forgiveness, which he had staked life and +honor to hear, were never uttered by those firmly-closed lips. + +With the day of Juanita's death commenced the old Indian woman's search +for the rosary, and she tore her hair in desperation when they laid the +girl in her narrow cell before she had found it. Day after day, the +search was continued. Was it not the peace of Juanita's soul she was +seeking to restore? After awhile the camp was broken up, by orders from +district head-quarters, and a forage-station established. Our friend, +whose term of service had expired, was made station-keeper, and, one by +one, the people from the settlement followed the military, till, at +last, only he and old Screetah were left of all the little band that +once had filled the dreary spot with the busy hum of life. + + + + +_HETTY'S HEROISM._ + + +"But, father, you don't really mean to watch the old year out, do you? +It's only a waste of candles, and the boys won't want to get up in the +morning." + +"Mebbee so, mother; but New Year's Eve don't come every day; so let's +have it out." And old man Sutton tipped back his chair, after filling +his pipe, and looked contentedly up at the white ceiling of the "best +room." + +Johnny, the younger son of the family, whistled gleefully, threw more +wood on the blazing pile in the fire-place, and then, resuming his +oft-forbidden occupation of cracking walnuts in the best room, said: + +"Don't the wind howl, though? Just drives the rain. Golly, ain't it nice +here?" + +"You're not to say bad words," broke out his mother, sharply. "Father, +why don't you correct the boy? Such a night as this, too, when--" + +"What's that?" interrupted the oldest son, springing from his seat, and +showing a straight, manly form and clear, deep eyes, as he stood by the +door in a listening attitude. + +"Coyotes, brother Frank; the ghosts don't come round this early, do +they?" laughed the younger. + +"Hush, Johnny! It's some one crying for help--a woman's voice!" + +"Tut, tut! where would a woman come from this time o' night, and not a +house within miles of us?" + +"A woman's voice, I'll stake my head," insisted Frank, after a moment's +silence in the room. + +The mother had laid down her glasses. "Wonder if the boy thinks Lolita +is coming through the storm to watch the old year out with him?" She +laughed as at something that gave her much pleasure, though the rest did +not share her merriment. + +They were all three listening at door and window now, and when Frank +threw the one nearest him quickly open, there came a sound through the +din and fury of the rain-storm that was neither the howling of the wind +nor the yelp of the coyote. + +"Now what do you say?" asked Frank; and he had already passed through an +inner apartment, and in a moment stood on the porch again, swinging a +lantern and peering out into the dark and rain, listening for that cry +of distress. It came in a moment--nearer than they had expected it. + +"Help! help! oh, please come and help!" + +"The d--l!" was old man Sutton's exclamation; not that he really thought +the slender little figure perched on the back of the tall horse was the +personage mentioned--it was only a habit he had of apostrophizing. + +The horse had stopped short and was breathing hard, and the prayer for +help was frantically repeated by the rider. "Come quick, and help the +poor fellow; I've been gone so long from him--oh! _do_ come!" + +"What poor fellow--and where is he?" asked the old man, in bewilderment. + +"The stage-driver--and he's lying near the old Mission, with his leg +broken. The horses shied in the storm and overturned the stage, and I +was the only passenger, and I crept out of it, and the driver couldn't +move any more, and told me to unhitch the horses and come this way for +help, and--oh! _do_ come now!" She ended her harangue, delivered with +flying breath and little attention to rhetoric or inter-punctuation. + +"And you came those nine miles all alone, gal?" asked the old man. + +"Oh, I think I must have come a hundred miles," she replied, with a wild +look at the faces on the porch and in the open doorway; "and it is so +cold!" She drew the dripping garments closer about her, while father and +son consulted together, with their eyes only, for a brief moment. Then +the old man said she must be taken in, and they must get the wagon +ready, and waken Pedro and Martin. + +Without a word Frank gave a lantern to Johnny, lifted the girl from the +horse and carried her into the room, brushing the drenched hair back +from her face, when he sat her down, as he would have done a child's. +But she pleaded excitedly, "Indeed I cannot stay--let me go back, and +you can follow." + +"So you shall go back, my gal," said Mr. Sutton, "as soon as the wagon +is ready. See how she's shivering, mother; get her some hot tea, and +give her your fur sack--for she'll go back with us or die." + +"My fur sack?" repeated the old lady, incredulously; "my best sack--out +in this rain!" + +"Best sack be ----," he shouted, angrily; "I'll throw it in the fire in +a minute!" And the best sack quickly made its appearance, in spite of +the threat of speedy cremation. + +The tea was brought by Johnny, hastily drank, and then the girl repeated +her wish to move on. Frank's own cloak was thrown over "the best fur +sack"--not, I fear, so much from a desire to save this garment as from +the wish to keep the shrinking form in it from shivering so painfully. + +It was New-Year's day--though the light had not yet dawned before the +sufferer was comfortably lodged at the Yedral Ranch, and Hetty, as well +as the Sutton family, slept later into the morning than usual. The sun +had risen as serenely cloudless as though no storm had passed through +the land but yesternight; and Father Sutton, thinking he was the first +one up, was surprised to encounter Hetty with Johnny, her new-found +cavalier. He hailed her in his unceremonious fashion: "I'm glad to see +you up bright and early, gal--make a good farmer's wife some day. Did +you come down this way to live on a ranch?" + +"No, sir; I came to teach school. Your name is among those of the +gentlemen who engaged me." + +"The ----! Are you the new school-marm? Then you're Miss----" + +"Hetty Dunlap is my name." + +He held out both hands. "A happy New-Year to ye, Hetty Dunlap--and happy +it'll be for all of us, I'm thinking; for a gal that's got so much pluck +as you is sure to know something about teachin' school. Here, Johnny, +how d'ye like your teacher?" + +Now, Johnny had drawn back with some slight manifestation of disfavor +when Hetty's true character came to light. But she laid her hand on his +shoulder in her shy yet frank manner, and said quickly: + +"I had already selected Johnny as a sort of assistant disciplinarian. I +am so little that I shall want some one who is tall and strong to give +me countenance;" which at once restored the harmony between them. They +went in to breakfast together, during which meal it was decided by +Father Sutton that Hetty was to live in his family, though "the Price's" +was the place where, until now, the teachers had made their home, being +nearest to the school. + +"But then," said the old man, "if the Rancho Yedral can't afford a +mustang for such a brave little rider every day of the year, then I'll +give it up;" and he slapped his hat on and left the house. + +"Yes," Frank commented rather timidly, "you are brave--a perfect +heroine. And yet you are so very small." She was standing in just the +spot where he had brushed the hair out of her face last night, and +perhaps his words were an apology. + +"True," she assented, "I am small; not much taller than my sister's +oldest girl, and she is only twelve." + +"You have a sister?" + +"Yes, in the city; and she has six children." Her voice was raised a +little, her nut-brown eyes looked into his with an unconscious appeal +for sympathy, and her delicate nostrils quivered as in terror--which the +bare recollection of the little heathens seemed to inspire her with. + +"And did you live at her house?--have you neither father nor mother +living?" + +"Neither. How happy you must be--you have so kind a father and so good a +mother--" + +The "good mother" came in just then, shaking her best sack vigorously, +and lamenting, in pointed words, the "ruination" of this expensive fur +robe--calling a painful blush to Hetty's cheek as well as Frank's. The +young man tried vainly to make it appear a pleasant joke. "Indeed, +mother, you ought to look upon that piece of fur as a handsome +New-Year's gift--you have my promise of a new fur sack as soon as I go +to the city. And isn't my word good for a fur sack?" he asked, +laughingly. + +"Yes," said the good mother. "I know your extravagance well enough; but, +to my notion, you can afford such things better after you've married +Lolita, than before." + +Frank bit his lips angrily, and turned away--but not before Hetty had +seen the hot red that flushed his cheek. + +Toward noon there was loud rejoicing on the porch, and Hetty, looking +from her window, saw Mrs. Sutton welcoming a tall, dark-eyed girl of +about twenty, whose companion--her brother, to all appearance--seemed +several years her senior. + +This girl, Lolita Selden, the daughter of an American father and a +wealthy Spanish mother, was a fair specimen of the large class +represented by her in California. Generous and impulsive, as all her +Spanish half-sisters are, neither her piecemeal education, nor the +foolish indulgence of the mother, had succeeded in making anything of +her but an impetuous, though really kind-hearted woman. In the brother's +darker, heavier face, there was less of candor and sympathy, and his +figure--though he had all the grace and dignity of the Spaniard--was +lacking in height and the breadth of shoulder that made Frank Sutton +look a giant beside him. + +It was some time before our heroine was introduced to the pair; not, +indeed, till dinner was on the table, though Frank had repeatedly hinted +to his mother that Hetty might not feel at liberty to make her +appearance among them without being formally invited--to which he +received the cheering response that "he was always botherin'." + +When they met, it was hard to say whether Hetty was more charmed with +Lolita's stately presence and simple kindness, or Lolita with Hetty's +heroism. The brother, too, seemed lost in admiration of Hetty's heroic +conduct or Hetty's pretty face--a fact which escaped neither Frank nor +his mother, for she commented on it days afterward. "What a chance it +would be for a poor girl like this 'ere one, if she could make a ketch +of young Selden, and he married her!" + +"What! that black-faced Spaniard?" but Frank's generous heart reproached +him even while he spoke, and his mother took advantage of his penitence +and charged him with a message to Lolita, that needed to be delivered +the same day. When, therefore, after school-hours, Frank returned +bringing with him both Hetty and Lolita--the latter was visiting her new +friend at the school-house--the mother was well pleased, and spoke more +kindly than she had yet spoken to the new teacher. + +"Old man" Sutton, too, had many a pleasant word for both young girls; +and altogether Hetty soon realized that home could be home away from her +sister's house and the six plagues it held. + +Spring came into the land, dressing in glossier green the grayish limbs +of the white-oak in the valley, opening with balmy breath the blossoms +of the buckeye by the stream, and covering with gayest flowers the plain +and the hillside; while in some shady nook the laurel stood, shaking its +evergreen leaves in daily wonderment at the dress changes and the +youthful air all nature had put on. The wild rose creeping over the +veranda of the Yedral Ranch shed its perfume through the house, and cast +its bright sheen upon the very roof-tree, a passion-vine, in sombre +contrast, rearing its symbolic blossom cheek to cheek with the rosy +flower-face of the gay child of Castile. + +Long since had the stage-driver left the Yedral Ranch, grateful for kind +treatment received, his head and heart full of a firm conviction on two +points: The first, that there was just one man good enough to be Hetty +Dunlap's husband, and that that man was Frank Sutton: the second, that +there was only one woman good enough to be Frank's wife, and she Hetty +Dunlap. + +He had resumed his old post, and many a pleasant word and startling bit +of news did he call out to Hetty and her friends when they were down by +the "big gate," as he drove by very slowly, so as to enjoy conversation +as long as possible. George was a deal pleasanter when Hetty was there +by herself, or at least without Lolita; and once, when, by chance, Hetty +and Frank were there alone together, he called down, regardless of the +staring passengers in the coach, "That's the way I like to see things; +two's good company, and three's none. Don't see what you want to be +luggin' that Spanish gal round with you for, Frank; she ain't none o' +your'n nohow, and never will be, nuther." + +Before the flush had died on her face, Hetty found her arm drawn +through Frank's, and as they slowly bent their steps homeward, the mind +of each seemed absorbed in the contemplation of some intricate puzzle, +on the solving of which depended their whole future welfare. Then Frank +raised his merry, twinkling eyes and charged her with being hopelessly +enamored of George, the stage-driver, defying her to say that she had +not just then been thinking of him, as he knew by her absent looks. + +"I--I was only looking down that way, and thinking there is no lovelier +spot on earth than Yedral Ranch." She stopped abruptly; what she was +saying now to cover her confusion, she had said a few days ago, from the +fulness of her heart, to Lolita, strolling along this same road; and the +Spanish girl had answered impulsively, "Yes; and you shall always make +your home here when I--" Then she had stopped, crimson in the face, and +Hetty had not urged her to finish the sentence. + +But Frank, with quickly altered tone, asked softly, "Do you like it so +well, Hetty--really and truly? And have you not wanted often to go back +to the city?" + +"To the city?" she repeated, with a little shiver; "no--no!" + +The call of a partridge from behind the nearest _manzanita_ bush warned +them that young Johnny was there, and the next moment he appeared before +them--his mother's ambassador to Hetty. "Would she be kind enough just +for once to help with the cake? His mother had burnt her right hand, and +she could not stir the batter with her left." + +"And could not you have done it 'just for once' as well?" asked Frank, +impatiently; at which question Johnny opened his eyes wide. + +"She didn't ask me," he said; and then they all went silently to the +house. + +To do Mrs. Sutton justice, she was loud in her praises of Hetty's +obliging disposition, and Hetty's proficiency in cake-baking, that +evening at tea; and particularly to Julian Selden, who was there with +his sister, did she untiringly sing Hetty's perfections. This seemed to +have the effect of making the young Spaniard bolder and more desirous of +pushing his suit, for the very next evening they came home from Hetty's +school _a partie carrée_--Lolita, her brother, Hetty and Frank. + +The facts of the case were that, following a suggestion of Frank's, +Johnny, on Julian's second attempt to escort Hetty home, had kept close +by her side during the whole ride, much more to Hetty's delight than +Julian's. In consequence, Julian had been wise enough to bring Lolita +with him; and Frank, though chagrined, was better pleased to find them +both at Hetty's school than one alone. + +Through the spring and far into the summer they met almost daily in this +way; and sometimes, though Mother Sutton's invitations to Lolita and her +brother to "come every day--every day," were loud and vociferous, the +brother and sister would return to their own home after a protracted +ride, leaving Hetty and Frank to find their way back to Yedral Ranch +alone. Hetty thought she could see a cloud on Mrs. Sutton's brow +whenever this happened; and dear as those rides were to her, she avoided +them whenever she could. Unhappily (Frank did not consider it so), while +out alone together one day, Hetty's saddle-girth broke, and though she +sprang quickly to the ground, Frank's nerves were so unstrung, he +declared, that he could not at once repair the damage, but had to +convince himself, by slow degrees, that she really was not hurt or +frightened. Consequently, it was later than usual when they reached +home; and Mother Sutton, darting a quick look to see that the door had +closed behind Frank, who had explained the cause of delay, muttered +something about "cunning minxes, who had neither gratitude nor shame," +and then tramped out of the room, leaving Hetty with cheeks burning and +eyes strangely bright under the tears rising in them. + +Next morning she made much ado over a sprained ankle, which was not so +painful as to keep her at home, but just bad enough to cause her to ride +slowly to school with Johnny and home again before school-hours were +fairly over. I fear that she was a "designing minx," for, if she +managed, by keeping her room to evade Frank's questioning glance and +Mother Sutton's hostile looks, she managed no less to escape an honor +which, according to this good lady's statement, corroborated by Lolita's +more than usual tenderness, Julian Selden had meant to confer upon her. +But she could not stay in her room forever; and Father Sutton dragged +her out of it one day, challenging her to tell the truth ("and shame the +devil"), by acknowledging that something had hurt her beside the +sprained ankle. Had Mrs. Sutton shown no spite openly against "the gal" +before, it broke out now, in little sharp speeches against women "tryin' +to work on the sympathy of foolish young men. Her boys, she knew, +couldn't never be ketched that way by no white-faced--" + +"Will yer be still now!" thundered the old man, taking the pipe from +between his lips and pointing with it to Hetty, who at this moment was +really the white-faced thing the old lady had meant to call her. + +"Johnny," said Hetty, next morning, on their way to school, "I +think--I'll go home when vacation begins, and--" + +"Why, what d'you mean?" asked the boy, startled out of all proper +respect. + +"Just what I say;" and she enumerated her reasons for considering it her +duty to return to her lonely sister and the six pining children; and it +was a matter of doubt whether Johnny's lips quivered more during the +recital, or Hetty's. But when the school-house was reached, Johnny was a +man again; and if he did blubber out loud when he told his elder +brother of it, late in the evening, down by the big gate, nobody but +Frank heard him, and _his_ lips were rather white when next he spoke. + +"You asked me for that Mexican saddle of mine some time ago, Johnny. You +are welcome to it." + +"I don't want no Mexican saddle," replied Johnny, in a surly tone, and +without grammar; but looking into his brother's face, he said, "Thank +you, Frank. I'd say you're 'bully,' only Hetty said it wasn't a nice +word." + +In the course of the week Father Sutton, in his character as such, and +as school director, was made acquainted with Hetty's intention. In both +characters he protested at first, but yielded at last. He walked out +with "the gal" one evening, as though to take her over the ranch for the +last time, and then artfully dodged away when Frank--by the merest +accident--came to join them. Left alone with this young man, Hetty +trembled, as she had learned to tremble under his mother's scowling +looks and half-spoken sentences. He spoke quietly, at first, of her +going away; but her very quietness seemed after a while to set him all +on fire. + +"Hetty," he cried, "are you then so anxious to go--so unwilling to stay, +even for a day, after the school closes? Is there nothing--is there no +one here you regret to leave behind you?" + +Poor little Hetty! How they had praised her for her heroism once. There +was no praise due her then, as she had protested again and again. Now +she was the heroine, when she answered, though with averted face and +smothered voice, "Nothing--no one;" adding, quickly, "you have all been +so kind to me that naturally I shall feel homesick for the Yedral Ranch, +and shall be so glad to see any of you when you come to the city." + +Frank had heard "the tears in her voice," and though he turned from her +abruptly, it was not in anger, as she fancied. + +"Father," he said, a day or two later, "I don't know but I'll take a run +over the mountains, now harvesting is over, and there seems nothing +particular for me to do." + +"Please yourself and you'll please me, Frank," was the answer. "Got any +money? You kin git it when you want it." + +Then there was nothing more said about the journey, and Frank, making no +further preparations, seemed to have forgotten all about it. + +When Hetty was lifted into the little wagon that took herself and trunk +to the big gate, she repeated her hope of sooner or later greeting the +members of the Sutton family in San Francisco. + +"Not soon, I'm afeard, Miss Hetty; me an' father and Johnny never goes +to the city, and as for Frank--I reckon he'll want to git married first, +and bring Lolita 'long with him." + +Martin, who was driving, probably knew the meaning of the fire in the +old man's eye, for he whipped up the horse and drove off, as though +"fearing to miss the stage," as he explained at the turn of the road. + +Altogether, George showed neither as much surprise nor pleasure as Hetty +had faintly expected him to evince. When they reached the first town he +came and stood by the open coach window, after the customary halt, +drawing on his gloves first, and then pointing out, with great +exactitude, where the old _adobe_ tavern had formerly stood, on the +opposite side of the street. + +During this interesting conversation, some tardy passengers came out of +the hotel, with hasty steps, and mounted to the top of the stage with +much hurried scrambling. Then George left Hetty's window, mounted his +throne, and drove on. + +We need not say how Hetty's heart sank with the sinking sun; and only +when George came out of the station-house where they had taken supper, +ready and equipped for the night's drive, did a light rise in her eyes. + +"I thought you stopped at this station," she said, as he again leaned at +her window, while the same hasty steps and confused scrambling on the +top of the stage fell, half unconsciously, on her ear. + +"Well--yes. As a general thing, I do. But me and Dick's changed off +to-night, so't I can see you into the cars to-morrow morning." + +"How tired you will be," she remonstrated. + +"Well--mebbe so. Howsomever, Miss Hetty, you didn't stop to think +whether you'd be tired when you started out to find help for me, last +New-Year's eve." And Hetty blushed, as she always did, when her heroism +was spoken of. + +George's eyes did look heavy the next morning; but he still kept the +lines, lounging up to the coach-window about the time the stage was +ready to start, and always pointing out something of interest on these +occasions. Once, indeed, when she fancied that her ear caught the sound +of a familiar footfall on the porch of the tavern they were about to +leave, he was so anxious she should see the owl just vanishing into the +squirrel-hole, on the opposite side of the road, that he laid his hand +on her arm to insure her quick attention, just as she was about to turn +her head back in the direction of the porch. Then came the usual +climbing and scrambling overhead, and directly George mounted, too, and +drove on. + +The shrill whistle of the locomotive seemed to cut right through Hetty's +heart; and the loneliness she had never felt away down the country, now +suddenly took possession of the girl's soul. No one could have been more +attentive than George; the best seat in the cars was picked out for her; +the daily papers laid beside her, and then--then she was left alone. +George only, of all her down-country friends, had made the unconditional +promise to visit her in San Francisco. She was thinking of this after he +had left her, and she sat watching the cars filling with passengers for +the city--travellers gathered together here from watering-place and +pleasure-resort, from dairy-ranch and cattle-range. Was there another +being among these all as lonely as she? And she turned her face to the +window, and looked steadily over toward the hills, yellow and parched +now, in the late summer--so fresh and green from the winter's rains when +she had last seen them. It looked as if her life, too, were in the "sere +and yellow;" the heavy, throbbing pain that was in her heart and rising +to her throat--would it ever give place again to the bright fancies she +had indulged in when coming this way--oh! how many weeks ago? She tried +to count; but counting the weeks brought the events of each in turn +before her, and she desisted; she must keep a calm face and a clear eye. + +She heard the cry of the fruit-venders outside, and saw their baskets +laden with fruits, tempting and delicious, raised to the car-windows, +where passengers had signified their wish to purchase. Mechanically, her +eyes followed the movements of the young man in front of her. Grapes, +with the dew still on them; apples, with one red cheek, and peaches with +two; plums, larger than either, and far more luscious, were transferred +from the heavy basket into the lap of the lady beside him--evidently his +new-made wife--who said, "Thanks, dear," with such a happy, grateful +smile, that Hetty grew quite envious. She tried to think it was of the +fruit; but pending the decision she laid her head on the back of the +seat in front of her, and before she thought of what she was doing, the +tears were trickling down her cheeks. Then her shoulders began to jerk +quite ridiculously, and she was ready to die of shame, when a light hand +was laid on them, and her name was spoken. + +"Hetty!" the voice said again; but she did not raise her head, only +answering, "Yes," as she would have done in a dream. + +"Hetty!" once more, "see what I have brought you." Apples, and peaches, +and plums--all these things were showered into her lap, and when she +raised her head, she looked at them steadily a moment, and then said, +with a long breath, "Oh, Frank!" before she turned to where he sat. As +she stretched out both hands to meet his, the fruit, now forgotten, fell +plump, plump, to the floor, and rolled all over the cars; and when the +train moved slowly away from the depot a little later, Hetty, looking up +at the lady in front of her, said to herself, that she envied her no +longer--neither the apples nor--. She made a full stop here; perhaps +because of George's sudden appearance, and the hilarity in which he and +Frank indulged. + +"Oh, Miss Hetty!" he laughed; "I couldn't make you see that owl this +morning, could I?" + +"No; but I think I must have been as blind as an owl myself, not to have +seen whom you were hiding," she answered, taking the contagion. + +Again shrieked the locomotive, but not with the "heart-rending" cry of a +while ago; and George, bringing their hands quickly together in his +parting clasp, sprang from the cars and left Frank and Hetty there. + +Loud was the anger of good Mrs. Sutton on discovering that Frank had +accompanied Hetty to San Francisco. In vain Father Sutton disclaimed all +fore-knowledge of the young man's intention, and asserted that Frank had +never mentioned a tour to the city. Mrs. Sutton said she knew the old +man was in league with him. At the end of a week Frank returned without +so much as bringing the fur sack as a peace-offering. In course of time +he reconciled his mother to some extent by again carrying messages to +Lolita, and sometimes bringing Lolita herself in return, just as in +Hetty's time. + +Autumn came; and still, to the determined schemer's dissatisfaction, +Frank had not yet secured the prize she so coveted for him. The season +brought with it many cares as well as pleasures to the ranchero. At a +_rodeo_, looked upon by the young people generally as a pleasant +entertainment, Frank was the admired of many eyes, as his lasso +unfailingly singled out the animal "in demand," among the dense herds +moving in a circle. The horse he rode was full of fire, and more +impetuous, if possible, than his rider; and Lolita, who was among the +guests at the Yedral Ranch, had never thought Frank so handsome and so +well worth winning before. + +To Hetty the white walls and the spacious rooms of the grammar-school, +to which she had returned, seemed a prison and a wilderness in one. Her +sister's house, with the six young Tartars, was more like Bedlam than +ever; but Hetty had grown older and firmer, and she declared, to her +sister's amazement, that unless she could withdraw herself from the mob +unmolested, at her option, she should seek a home with more congenial +associates. The sister opened her eyes wide, as if only now discovering +that Hetty was full-grown; and she assented silently. + +First, after her return, letters from Frank lighted up her life at +intervals. But when the early rains of autumn, after an Indian summer +full of sunny days and glorious memories of vanished springs, turned to +the settled melancholy of "a wet winter," these letters ceased, leaving +in Hetty's existence a blank that nothing else could fill. Christmas +came, with its vacations and merry-makings, and beside the dull, deep +pain in Hetty's heart, there was still the unselfish wish to give others +pleasure, though she herself could never again feel that glad emotion. +From morn to night her deft hands flew, sewing, stitching, +sketching--busy always, yet never for herself. + +It was very near Christmas now--so near that Hetty, eager to have all +things ready for the joyous eve, had sat down to her work without the +usual care for neat appearance. Perhaps it was because her curls were a +little neglected, and her collar was not pinned on with the usual +precision, that her face looked worn this morning; her eyes were +languid, and the flush on her cheeks could not cover the deficiency of +flesh which became painfully visible. + +Thus she sat, stitching, ever stitching. The silent parlor, with its +covered furniture and light carpeting, seemed the right place for ghosts +to flit through, and peer, mayhap, with dull, glazed eyes into the fire, +as Hetty caught herself just now. But she drove back the ghosts--are +they not always our own memories, woven out of unfulfilled wishes, +useless regrets, and profitless remorse?--and hastily resumed her work. +The ringing of the door-bell seemed so much the doing of one of these +ghosts, that she paid no attention to it, but kept on stitching, quietly +stitching. Directly the parlor-door was thrown open, and the Mongolian +servitor, looking with calm indifference on the little streams of muddy +water oozing at every step from the boots of the new-comer, returned to +the kitchen, heedless, to all appearances, of the scream with which +Hetty flew to meet the stranger. + +"George!" she cried, "oh! George!" and she clasped the damp arm of the +man, gotten up on the grizzly-bear pattern, as though there could be no +pleasure greater than this in all the world. + +Though a man, George was wise enough to know that he was not indebted to +his personal attractions for this affectionate greeting; but taking both +her hands in his, he said, "Yes, Miss Hetty, I've come to tell you all +about it." + +At the fall _rodeo_ on the Yedral Ranch, Frank's horse had fallen, +covering its rider with its weighty body. He recovered from a death-like +swoon with wandering mind; and the spine being injured, according to +the doctor's statement, it seemed doubtful that he would ever leave his +bed, except as imbecile or cripple. Reason returning, Frank felt that +his friends' fears of his remaining a cripple were not without +foundation, and a hopeless gloom settled on his spirit. Many a time, +when George had made "fast time" and spent the half-hour gained at +Frank's bed, did Hetty's name rise to his lips; but it was never +pronounced. Only this: looking up out of deep sunken eyes, one day, +quite recently, Frank had said to him, "George, I shall get well, and +not be a cripple. If only--" "It's all right," had been George's answer; +and he had hurried from the house as though charged with the most urgent +commission. + +After an hour's conversation, Hetty had only one question to ask. +Looking up with shy eagerness, she almost said below her breath, "And +Lolita?" + +For answer, George took the flushed face between his hands. +"You've grown mighty thin, Miss Hetty," he simply said. Then he +continued, with great _nonchalance_, "Lolita got stuck after the new +schoolmaster--they've got a man in your place. But come, Miss Hetty, you +'peared to me last New-Year's eve like an angel, in my distress; suppose +you do as much now for Frank Sutton. We can get down there on New-Year's +eve, and give you lots of time to spend Christmas here first. What d'ye +say?" + +No lover could have pleaded more earnestly. All her objections were +overruled, and when at last she said, almost breathlessly, "Oh, but his +_mother_, George!" he answered, with all his honest heart: "It's my firm +belief, Miss Hetty, that you were cut out for a real hero-ine; and a +hero-ine you've got to be to the end of the chapter--which I don't say +but the last trial of your hero-ism will be greater than the first." + +And sure enough, on New-Year's eve, came the rumbling of wheels and the +tramp of horses' hoofs close up to the veranda of the ranch-house on the +Yedral. None of the inmates seemed startled, though none had expected +company. Without a word Father Sutton sprang to the door--alas! that the +old man was swifter of foot now than the young giant of a year +ago--caught the lithe figure that sprang from the stage in his arms and +set her down, as Frank had done, in the middle of the room. But she was +not cold, dripping wet now, only blinded by the light one moment, and +the next on her knees by the lounge, where a pale, haggard man lay +stretched. He half raised himself to catch her in his arms, and for a +wonder did not sink back with the moan that had become so painful to his +father's ears. For once Hetty had cast aside all timidity, and she +looked up brightly into Father Sutton's face, while one arm circled +Frank's neck and the other hand lay unresistingly in his. + +"Hey!" shouted the old man; "now we know whose gal you are; I used to +call you mine once. Mother, get some supper; I reckon she is wellnigh +starved and perished with the cold. Lively, Johnny! bring some more +wood; Hetty'll stay for good, and you'll get time enough to hang 'round +the gal to-morrow." + +And what a bright to-morrow it was! Such a New-Year's day had never +dawned on Yedral Ranch before. Every one seemed to have found a +treasure, even to Mrs. Sutton. Together with Hetty's trunk had come a +large, promising-looking box, and when Father Sutton presented this to +his better-half, she almost screamed-- + +"Oh, I know! it's my new fur sack!" + + + + +_A WOMAN'S TREACHERY._ + + +"How much you resemble Mrs. Arnold!" exclaimed the Doctor's wife, after +an hour's acquaintance, the day we reached Fort ----. It was not the +first time I had heard of my resemblance to this, to me, unknown lady +remarked on. A portion of the regiment of colored troops to which Doctor +Kline belonged, and which we met on their way in to the States, as we +were coming out, had been camped near us one night; and a colored +laundress, who had good-naturedly come over to our tent to take the +place of my girl, who was sick, had broken into the same exclamation on +first beholding me. Captain Arnold belonged to the same regiment, and +was expecting, like all the volunteers then in the Territory, to be +ordered home and mustered out of service, as soon as the body of regular +troops, to which my husband belonged, could be assigned their respective +posts. Their expectations were not to be realized for some time yet; and +when I left the Territory, a year later, a part of these troops were +still on the frontier. + +Fort ---- was not our destination; to reach it, we should be obliged to +pass through, and stop for a day or two at, the very post of which +Captain Arnold had command--which would afford me excellent and ample +opportunity for judging of the asserted likeness between this lady and +myself. I must explain why we were, in a measure, compelled to stop at +Fort Desolation (we will call it so). It was located in the midst of a +desert--the most desolate and inhospitable that can be imagined--in the +heart of an Indian country, and just so far removed from the direct +route across the desert as to make it impracticable to turn in there +with a command, or large number of soldiers; for which reason, troops +crossing here always carried water-barrels filled with them. A small +party, however, such as ours was then, could not with any safety camp +out the one night they must, despite the best ambulance-mules, pass on +the desert. + +With most pardonable curiosity, I endeavored to learn something more of +the woman who was so much like me in appearance; and I began straightway +to question Mrs. Kline about her. The impression of a frank, open +character, which this lady had made on me at first, vanished at once +when she found that Mrs. Arnold was to be made the subject of +conversation between us. + +"Is she pretty?" + +"Yes--quite so." Ahem! and looked like me. But my mother's saying, that +there might be a striking resemblance between a very handsome and a very +plain person, presented itself to my memory like an uninvited guest, and +I concluded not to fall to imagining vain things on so slight a support. + +"What kind of a man is Captain Arnold?" + +"The most good-natured man in the world." + +"Oh!" Something in the manner of her saying this in praise of Captain +Arnold made me think she wanted to say nothing further; so I stopped +questioning. + +We left the Doctor and his wife early the next morning, and reached Fort +Desolation at night-fall. The orderly had preceded us a short distance, +and, when the ambulance stopped at the Captain's quarters, Mrs. Arnold +appeared on the threshold, holding a lantern in her hand. She raised it, +to let the light fall into the ambulance; and as the rays fell on her +own face, I could see that she looked like--a sister I had. The Captain +was absent, inspecting the picket-posts he had established along the +river, and would return by morning, Mrs. Arnold said; and she busied +herself with me in a pleasant, pretty manner. She could not resemble me +in height or figure, I said to myself, for she was smaller and more +delicately made; nor had any one in our family such deep-blue eyes, save +mother--we children had to content ourselves with gray ones. + +The night outside was dark and chilly; but in the Captain's house there +were light and warmth, and it was bright with the fires that burned in +the fireplaces of the different rooms--all opening one into the other. I +was forcibly struck with the difference between the quarters at Fort +---- and Mrs. Arnold's home at Fort Desolation. Comforts (luxuries, in +this country) of all kinds made it attractive: bright carpets were on +the floors here; while at the Doctor's quarters at Fort ----, one was +always reminded of cold feet and centipedes, when looking at the naked +_adobe_ floors. Embroidered covers were spread on the tables and white +coverlets on the beds; while at the Doctor's all these things were made +hideous by hospital-linen and gray blankets. Easy-chairs and lounges, +manufactured from flour-barrels, saw-bucks, and candle-boxes, were made +gorgeous and comfortable with red calico and sheep's-wool; but the +crowning glory of parlor, bed-room, and sitting-room was a dazzling +toilet-set of china--gilt-edged, and sprinkled with delicate bouquets of +moss-roses and foliage. + +"Where _did_ you get it?" I asked, in astonishment--_not_ envy. + +"Isn't it pretty?" she asked, triumphantly. "The Captain's +quartermaster, Lieutenant Rockdale, brought it from Santa Fé for me, and +paid, a mint of money for it, no doubt." + +At the supper-table I saw Lieutenant Rockdale, who commanded the post in +the Captain's absence, being the only officer there besides the Captain; +and, as he messed with them altogether, I need not say that the table +was well supplied with all the delicacies that New York and Baltimore +send out to less highly favored portions of the universe, in tin cans. +Lieutenant Rockdale was a handsome man--a trifle effeminate, perhaps, +with languishing, brown eyes, and a soft voice. He seemed delighted with +our visit, and took my husband off to his own quarters, while Mrs. +Arnold and I looked over pictures of her friends, over albums, and at +all the hundred little curiosities which she had accumulated while in +the Territory. The cares of the household seemed to sit very lightly on +her; a negro woman, Constantia, and a mulatto boy, of twelve or +thirteen, sharing the labor between them. The boy seemed to be a +favorite with Mrs. Arnold, though she tantalized and tormented him, as I +afterwards found she tormented and tantalized every living creature over +which she had the power. + +I had noticed, while Constantia and Fred were clearing off the table, +that she had cut him a slice from a very choice cake, toward which the +child had cast longing looks. Placing it carefully on a plate, when he +had to leave it for a moment to do something his mistress had bidden +him, in the twinkling of an eye she had hidden it; and when the boy +missed it, she expressed her regret at his carelessness, and artfully +led his suspicions toward Constantia. Hearing him whimpering and +sniffling as he went back and forth between dining-room and kitchen, his +childish distress at losing the cake seemed to afford her the same +amusement that a stage-play would, and she laughed till the tears rolled +down her cheeks. Later, he was summoned to replenish the fire; and, +knowing the little darkey's aversion for going out of the house +bare-headed (he had an idea that his cap could prevent the Indian arrows +from penetrating his skull), she hid the cap he had left in the +adjoining room, and then laughed immoderately at his terror on leaving +the house without it. The next morning, she led me out to the stables to +show me her horse--a magnificent, black animal, wild-eyed, with a +restless, fretful air. Crossing the space in front of the house, she +called to a soldier with sergeant-chevrons on his arms--a man with just +enough of negro blood in his veins to stamp him with the curse of his +race. + +"Harry!" she called to him, "Harry, come hold Black for me; I want to +give him a piece of sugar." She opened her hand to let him see the +pieces, and he touched his cap and followed us. He loosened the halter +and led the horse up to us, but the animal started back when he saw Mrs. +Arnold, and would not let her approach him. Harry patted his neck and +soothed him, and Mrs. Arnold holding the sugar up to his view, the horse +came to take it from her hand; but she quickly clutched his lip with her +fingers, and blew into his face till the horse reared and plunged so +that Harry could hold him no longer. Laughing like an imp, she called to +Harry: + +"Get on him and hold him, if you cannot manage him in that way: get on +him anyhow, and let Mrs. ---- see him dance." + +The mulatto's flashing black eyes were bent on her with a singularly +reproachful look; but the next moment he was on the horse's back, the +horse snorting and jumping in a perfectly frantic manner. + +When Mrs. Arnold had sufficiently recovered from her merriment, she +explained that the horse had not been ridden for a month; the last time +she had ridden him he had thrown her--she had pricked him with a pin to +urge him on faster. + +About noon the Captain arrived; and I found him, as Mrs. Kline had +described, "the most good-natured man in the world," and, to all +appearances, loving his wife with the whole of his big heart. He was big +in stature, too, with broad shoulders, pleasant face, and cheerful, +ringing voice. The shaggy dog, who had slunk away from Mrs. Arnold, came +leaping up on his master when he saw him; the horse he had ridden rubbed +his nose against his master's shoulder before turning to go into his +stable, and Constantia and Fred beamed on him with their white teeth and +laughing eyes from the kitchen-door. Later in the afternoon, he asked +what I thought of his quarters, and told me how hard his colored +soldiers had worked to build the really pretty _adobe_ house in strict +accordance with his wishes and directions. But I could not quite decide +whether he was more proud of the house or of the affection his men all +had for him. Then he told me the story of almost every piece of +furniture in the house; and, moving from room to room, we came to where +their bed stood. Resting beside it was his carbine, which the orderly +had brought in. Taking it in his hand to examine it, he pointed it at +his wife's head with the air of a brigand, and uttered, in unearthly +tones: + +"Your money, or your life!" + +With a quick, cat-like spring, she was by the bed, had thrust her hands +under the pillow, and the next instant was holding two Derringers close +to his breast. Throwing back her head, like a heroine in velvet trousers +on the stage, she returned, in the same strain: + +"I can play a hand at that game, too, and go you one better!" + +She laughed as she said it--the laugh that she laughed with her white +teeth clenched--but there was a "glint" in her eye that I had never seen +in a blue eye before. + +When once more on the way, my husband asked me how I liked Mrs. Arnold. +"Very well," said I; "but--," and I did not hesitate to tell him of the +peculiarities I had noticed about her. He himself was charmed with her +sprightliness, so he only responded with, "Pshaw! woman!" after which I +maintained an offended (he said, offensive) silence on the subject. + +Not quite four months later, my husband was recalled to Santa Fé, and we +again crossed the desert, with only three men as escort. I had heard +nothing from either Mrs. Arnold or the Captain in all this time, for our +post was farther out than theirs; indeed, so far out that nothing +belonging to the same military department passed by that way. It was +midsummer, and the dreary hills shutting in Fort Desolation, and running +down toward the river some distance back of the place, were baked hard +and black in the sun; the little stream that had meandered along through +the low inclosure of the fort in winter time was now a mere bed of +slime, and the plateaux, which had been levelled for the purpose of +erecting the Captain's house and the commissary buildings on them, could +not boast of a single spear of grass or any other sign of vegetation. +The Captain's house lay on the highest of these plateaux; lower down, +across the creek, were the quartermaster and commissary buildings (here, +too, were Lieutenant Rockdale's quarters); and to the left, on the other +side of the men's quarters, was the guard-house--part _jacal_, part +tent-cloth. + +How _could_ any one live here and be happy? Black and bald the earth, as +far as the eye could reach; black and dingy the tents and the huts that +strewed the flat; murky and dark the ridge of fog that rose on the +unseen river; murky and silent the clefts in the rocks where the sun +left darkness forever. + +It might have been the fading light of the waning day that cast the +peculiarly sombre shadow on the Captain's house as we drew up to it; but +I thought the same shadow must have fallen on the Captain's face, when +he appeared in the door to greet us. Presently Mrs. Arnold fluttered up +in white muslin and blue ribbons; and both did their best to make us +comfortable. How my husband felt, I don't know; but they did not succeed +in making me feel comfortable. Perhaps the absence of the bright fire +made the rooms look so dark, even after the lights had been brought +in--there was certainly a change. Supper was placed on the table, but I +missed Constantia's round face in the dining-room. In answer to my +question regarding her, I was told she had expressed so strong a desire +to return to the States that she had been sent to Fort ----, there to +await an opportunity to go in. Lieutenant Rockdale's absence I noticed +also. He did not mess with them any more, I was informed. + +My attention was attracted to a conversation between Captain Arnold and +my husband. The guard-house, he told him, was at present occupied by two +individuals who had made their appearance at Fort Desolation several +days ago, and had tried to prevail on the Captain to sell them some of +the government horses, and arms and ammunition, offering liberal +payment, and promising secrecy. They were Americans; but as the number +of American settlers, or white settlers, in this country is so small, it +was easy for the Captain to determine that these were not of them, and +their dress and general appearance led him to suspect that they belonged +to that despicable class of white men who make common cause with the +Indian, in order to rob and plunder, and, if need be, murder, those of +their own race. Of course they had not made these proposals directly and +openly to the Captain--at first representing themselves as members of a +party of miners going to Pinos Altos; but they soon betrayed a +familiarity with the country which only years of roaming through it +could have given them. He had felt it his duty to arrest them at once, +but had handcuffed them only to-day, and meant to send them, under +strong escort, to Fort ----, where their regimental commander was +stationed, as soon as some of the men from the picket-posts could be +called in. + +It was late when we arose from the supper-table, and the Captain and my +husband left us, to go down to the guard-house, while Mrs. Arnold led me +into the room where their bed stood. This room had but one window--of +which window the Captain was very proud. It was a _French_ window, +opening down to the ground. Throwing it open, Mrs. Arnold said: + +"What a beautiful moon we have to-night; let us put out the candle and +enjoy the moonshine"--with which she laughingly extinguished the light, +and drew my chair to the window. + +From where I sat I could just see the men's quarters and the +guard-house, though it might have been difficult from there to see the +window. We had not been seated long when I fancied I heard a noise, as +though of some one stealthily approaching from somewhere in the +direction to which my back was turned; then some one seemed to brush or +scrape against the outside wall of the house, behind me. "What's that?" +I asked in quick alarm. It had not remained a secret to Mrs. Arnold that +I was an unmitigated coward; so she arose, and saying, "How timid you +are!--it is the dog; but I will go and look," she stepped from the low +window to the ground outside, and vanished around the corner of the +house. Some time passed before she returned, and with a little shudder, +sprang to light the candle. + +"How chilly it is getting," she exclaimed; and then continued, "it was +the dog we heard out there. Poor fellow; perhaps the cook had forgotten +him, so I gave him his supper." + +Rising from my seat to close the window on her remark about the cold, I +stepped to the opposite side from where I had been sitting; and there, +crossing the planks that lay over the slimy creek, and going towards the +commissary buildings, was a man whose figure seemed familiar: I could +not be mistaken--it was Lieutenant Rockdale. No doubt the man had a +right to walk in any place he might choose; but, somehow, I could not +help bringing him in connection with "the dog, poor fellow," for whom +Mrs. Arnold had all at once felt such concern. + +Soon the gentlemen returned, and we repaired to the parlor, where a +game of chess quickly made them inaccessible to our conversation. The +game was interrupted by a rap at the front door, and Harry, the sergeant +whom Mrs. Arnold had compelled to mount her black horse that day, +appeared on the threshold. In his face there was a change, too; his eyes +flashed with an unsteady light as he opened the door, and ever and +again, while addressing the Captain--whose thoughts were still half with +the game--his looks wandered over to where Mrs. Arnold sat. We were so +seated that the Captain's back was partly toward her when he turned to +the sergeant; and he could not see the quick gesture of impatience, or +interrogation, that Mrs. Arnold made as she caught the mulatto's eye. +Involuntarily, I glanced toward him--and saw the nod of assent, or +intelligence he gave in return. + +The sergeant had come to report that the prisoners in the guard-house +had suddenly asked to see the Captain: they had disclosures to make to +him. When Captain Arnold returned, his face was flushed. + +"The villains!" he burst out. "They had managed to hide about five +thousand dollars in United States bank-notes about them, when they were +searched for concealed weapons, and they just now offered it to me, if I +would let them escape. Not only that, but from something one of them +said, I have gained the certainty that they are implicated in the +massacre of the party of civilians that passed through here about two +months ago: you remember, the General ordered out a part of K company, +to rescue the one man who was supposed to have been taken prisoner. The +wretches! But I'll go myself, in the morning, to relieve the men from +picket-duty, and select the best from among them to take the scoundrels +to Santa Fé!" + +When about to begin my toilet the next morning, I gave a start of +surprise. Was _that_ what had made the house look so dark and changed? +Before me stood a large tin wash-basin--of the kind that all common +mortals used out here--and the beautiful toilet-set of china, with its +splendors of gilt-edge and moss-roses, had all disappeared--all save the +soap-dish and hot-water pitcher, which were both defective, and looked +as though they had gone through a hard struggle for existence. + +When our ambulance made the ascent of the little steep hill that hides +Fort Desolation from view, I saw three horses led from the stable to the +Captain's house--the Captain's horse and two others. He was as good as +his word, and before another day had passed, the two men penned up in +that tent there would be well on their way to meet justice and +retribution. A solitary guard, with ebony face and bayonet flashing in +the morning sun, was pacing back and forth by the tent; and walking +briskly from the commissary buildings toward the men's quarters, was +Harry, the mulatto sergeant. + +From the first glance I had at Mrs. Kline's face, when we reached Fort +----, I knew that the mystery of the change at Fort Desolation would be +solved here. Constantia was there, and acting as cook in Dr. Kline's +family. She was an excellent cook, and we did ample justice to her skill +at suppertime. The gentlemen leaving the table to smoke their cigars, +Mrs. Kline and I settled down to another cup of tea and _médisance_. +From what Constantia had stated on coming to Fort ----, it would seem +that in some way Captain Arnold's suspicions had been aroused in regard +to the friendship of Lieutenant Rockdale for his wife. About two months +ago, he one day pretended to start off on a tour of inspection to the +picket-posts; but returned, late the same night, by a different road. +Stealing into the house through the kitchen, he had, rather +unceremoniously, entered the bed-room, where he found Lieutenant +Rockdale toasting his bare feet before the fire. Raising his carbine to +shoot the man, Mrs. Arnold had sprung forward, seized his arms and torn +the gun from him. In the confusion that followed, the toilet-set +referred to, and other articles of furniture, were demolished: but +Constantia, who had crept in after the Captain, to prevent mischief, if +possible, gave it as her opinion that Mrs. Arnold "had grit enough for +ten such men as him an' de leftenant." + +"If you did but know the ingratitude of the creature," continued Mrs. +Kline, "and the devotion her husband has always shown her!" And she gave +me a brief sketch of her career: Married to Arnold just at the breaking +out of the war, and of poor parents, she had driven him almost to +distraction by her treatment, when thrown out of employment some time +after. At last he went into the Union forces as substitute--giving every +cent of the few hundred dollars he received to his wife, who spent it on +herself for finery. Later, when for bravery and good conduct he was made +lieutenant in a negro regiment, she joined her husband, and finally came +to the Territory with him. In their regiment, it was well known that he +had always blindly worshipped his wife; and that she had always ruled +him, his purse, and his company, with absolute power. + +Before retiring for the night, we debated the question: Should we remain +the next day at Fort ----, or proceed on our journey? The mules needed +rest, as well as the horses, for the quartermaster could not furnish +fresh mules, which we had rather expected; still, my husband was anxious +to reach Santa Fé as soon as possible--and we left the question of our +departure where it was, to settle it the next morning at breakfast. The +news that came to Fort ----, before the next morning, made us forget our +journey--for that day, at least. Captain Arnold had been murdered! The +big, true-hearted man was lying at Fort Desolation--dead--with his +broken eyes staring up to the heaven that had not had pity on him--his +broad breast pierced with the bullet that a woman's treachery had sped! + +Before daybreak, a detachment of six men had come in from Fort +Desolation to Fort ----, to report to the commander of their regiment +that Captain Arnold had been assassinated, and Sergeant Henry Tulliver +had deserted, taking with him one horse, two revolvers, and a carbine. +Captain Arnold had started out the morning before, with only two men, to +call in the picket-posts. An hour later, the two men had come dashing +back to the fort, stating that they had been attacked, and Captain +Arnold killed, by the two white men who had been confined in the +guard-house. It was ascertained then, for the first time, that the +prisoners had made their escape. A detachment of men was sent out with a +wagon, and the Captain's body brought in--the men, with their black +faces and simple hearts, gathered around it, with tears and +lamentations, heaping curses on the villains who had slain their kind +commander. + +Suddenly a rumor had been spread among them that Harry, the sergeant, +had set the prisoners free; and instantly, a hundred hoarse voices were +shouting the mulatto's name--a hundred hands ready to take the traitor's +life. Vainly Lieutenant Rockdale--who, after the Captain's departure, +had at once repaired to his house--tried to check the confusion, that +was quickly ripening into mutiny: the excitement only increased, and +soon a crowd of black soldiers moved toward the men's quarters, with +anything but peaceful intentions. Perhaps Harry's conscience had warned +him of what would come, for while the mob were searching the quarters, a +lithe figure sprang over the planks across the creek, ran to the stables +below the Captain's house, and the next moment dashed over the road, +mounted on a wild-looking, black horse. + +Could they but have reached him--the infuriated men, who sent yells and +carbine-balls after the fugitive--he would have been sacrificed by them +to the _manes_ of the murdered man; and perhaps this effect had been +calculated on, when the fact of his having liberated the prisoners had +been brought, to their ears. + +"How did it come to their ears?" I asked of the Doctor, under whose care +one of the six men, overcome with fatigue and excitement, had been +placed. It seems that Mrs. Arnold had expressed her conviction of the +sergeant having liberated the prisoners to Lieutenant Rockdale in little +Fred's hearing, and the boy had innocently repeated the tale to the men. + +In the afternoon of the same day, the detail had been made of the men +who brought the news to Fort ----; but when the detachment had been only +an hour or two on the way, they found the trail of the escaped +prisoners. The men could not withstand the temptation to make an effort, +at least, to recapture them. They knew them to be mounted, for the two +horses which Sergeant Tulliver had that morning separated from the herd +were missing; but the trail they followed showed the tracks of _three_ +horses, which led them to suppose that Harry had found the men and +joined them. + +But the trail led farther and farther from the road, and fearing to be +ambushed, they turned back, leaving the man who had been driven from the +companionship of his brethren by a woman's treachery, to become one of +the vultures that prey on their own kind. + + + + +_THE GENTLEMAN FROM SISKIYOU._ + + +In Gilroy, when the sun lies hot and yellow on the roofs of the +frame-built houses and the wide meadows, waving with grain or cropped +short by herds of grazing cattle, the eye turns instinctively to the +mountains, where the dreamy mid-day atmosphere seems to gather coolness +from the dark woods that crown its summit. + +"Over that way lie the Hot Springs," says one or the other, pointing out +the direction to the stranger who comes for the first time to Santa +Clara Valley. + +If he wait till the early train of the Southern Pacific Railroad comes +in from San Francisco, he will see any number of passengers alighting at +the depot, whose dress and belongings speak of a residence in a place +somewhat larger and wealthier than the pretty little town of Gilroy. +After a comfortable dinner at either of the two hotels, carriages, +stages, and buggies are in readiness to convey those in search of either +health or pleasure on to the Springs. + +It is too early in the season yet to feel much inconvenience from the +dust; and the drive through the precincts of what is called Old Gilroy +is a charming trip. The modest but cheerful houses are just within sight +of each other, separated by orchards, grainfields, vineyards; a grove of +white oaks here and there, a single live oak, and clumps of willow and +sycamore, make the landscape as pleasing as any in the country. Nearer +the first rise of the mountain, the view of grainfields, fenced in by +the same dry board fence, would become monotonous were it not for the +ever-fresh, ever-beautiful white oak that stands, sentinel-like, +scattered through the golden fields, its lower branches sometimes hidden +in the full-bearing garbs. + +First we hardly notice that the road ascends; but soon, as the +foot-hills leave an open space, we can see a vast plain lying beneath +us, and then the climb begins in good earnest. "Round and round" the +hill it seems to go--a narrow road cut out of the long-resisting +rock--the wounds which the pick and shovel have made overgrown by +tender, pitying vines, that seek to hide the scars on the face of their +fostering mother. Trees high above us shake their leafy heads, and the +wild doves who have their nests in the green undergrowth, croon sadly +over the invasion of their quiet mountain home. Vain complainings of +tree and bird! When the eyes of man have once lighted on nature in her +wild, fresh beauty, they are never withdrawn, and they spare not the +bird on her nest, nor the tree in its pride. + +Here opens a mountain valley before us, and, nestled in the shadow of +sycamore and alder, a cosy, home-like cot. The peach and grape-vine +cluster by the door; and where a rude tumble-down fence encloses the +fields, the Rose of Castile, the native child of California, creeps +picturesquely over the crumbling rails, and fills the air with its own +matchless fragrance. Bees are drawing honey from geranium and +gilli-pink, and the humming-bird, darting through space like a flash one +moment, hangs the next, with a quivering, rapturous kiss, in the petals +of the sweet-breathed honeysuckle. + +Then the road winds higher, and the hills and rocks above grow steeper, +bearing aloft the laurel tree and manzanite bush, the madrone tree and +the poison ivy. There is not an inch of ground between the wheels of the +stage and the steep declivity; and once in a while a nervous passenger +of the male gender turns away with a shudder, while the female hides her +eyes in her veil or handkerchief, never heeding the sight of the bare, +bald crags, and the pine-covered heights far above and in the dreamy +distance. + +As we enter the heart of the _cañon_, the rocky, vine-clad walls on +either side seem to reassure the nervous passenger and the half-fainting +lady; and the grade being very easy for quite a while, there is no more +lamentation heard till the horses dash full-speed through a laughing, +glittering mountain stream, the head-waters of the Cayote, throwing its +spray merrily in at the open window. Again and again the brook is +crossed, as it makes its quick, flashing way through blackberry clumps +and wild grape-vines, glancing up at sycamore and buckeye tree as it +hastens along. Suddenly the driver strikes one of the shining white +rocks on which the water breaks into foam, and then a general commotion +ensues in the stage, and before the passengers have settled back in +their original places, a soft, sad music seems to float toward us on the +air--the rustling of the gray-green pines that overhang the last rise in +the road, and shade so romantically the white cottages clinging to the +mountain-side, and built on the plateau that is crowned by the hotel and +gardens of the Gilroy Hot Springs. + +The stage halts, and after shaking hands with the dozen friends one is +sure to find, and partaking of the dinner, which is consumed with +ravenous appetite after the drive of two or three hours, it is still +early enough for a walk to the Springs before the balmy moonlit night +sets in. The terrace-like walk, partly cut out, partly filled in on the +steep mountain-side, is overhung by hills rising again on hills; tiny +cottages peering out here, there, and everywhere, from out manzanite, +laurel and pine trees. Beneath, the mountain falls off into a deep, +narrow valley, clothed in luxuriant green, a towering mountain rising on +the other side. + +There are thousands of silver trout in the streams in the valley; there +is an abundance of game in the wild, rugged, but beautiful mountains +back of and above the Springs. As in some cases, however, a horrid, +vicious-looking lamprey-eel has been found on the rod, instead of a +speckled-back trout, so in other cases have brave hunters returned from +the chase with blanched faces and reports of startling sights of huge +bears and California lions, instead of the tamer game they had expected +to bag. + +"But it is delightful here for all that!" is the almost involuntary +exclamation of those who, on some bright June morning make their way +slowly, slowly--drinking their fill of nature, sunshine, and mountain +air--to the bubbling, hissing, seething Springs. + +We hear this same remark just now from the midst of the group of ladies +who are making their way around the gentle curves of the terrace-walk to +the Springs; and as the words come from the lips of one who is to figure +as the heroine of our short but veracious story, we must take a closer +look at her, as she sweeps by, moving along with the rest, yet always a +little apart from them. She is carelessly swinging her hat by the +strings, and the sun, now and again, as they round some curve in the +road, kisses the auburn of her curls into ripples of golden bronze. The +_nonchalance_ expressed in air and carriage was affected, it was said, +and that she always knew what was going on around her, without ever +asking any questions. + +"That gentleman has been devouring you with his eyes this last half +hour. I noticed him up at the house as we were getting ready to +start--and now he is here before us;" and fat, motherly Mrs. Bradshaw +laughed as only such large-framed, large-hearted people can laugh. + +"I hope he finds me more palatable than the beefsteak we had this +morning--it was horribly tough." + +"Are you speaking of the gentleman from Siskiyou?" asked the tall lady +with glasses, who was Miss Kingsley, and popularly supposed to be +getting up a book on "The Resources of California." + +"No, of the beefsteak," quickly replied she of the auburn curls. Mrs. +Bradshaw nudged her very perceptibly, to which admonition she made +answer, _sotto voce_, "I hate old maids and blue-stockings." + +Miss Kingsley had drawn herself up to her stateliest height: "I had +meant to inquire whether Mrs. Bradshaw was alluding to the gentleman +from Siskiyou?" + +"Yes, dear; didn't you see how he kept his eyes fixed on Mrs. Clayton, +before he turned away when he saw us laughing?" + +"I did not observe. My opinion, however, if I may venture to express it, +is that Mrs. Clayton, with all her talent for subjugating mankind, will +hardly succeed in bringing that gentleman to her feet. This piece of +rock, I think, could be inspired with the tender passion just as soon." + +"Oh! did he refuse that valuable information in regard to the resources +of California?" asked Mrs. Clayton, with mingled indignation and +concern. + +Mrs. Bradshaw was bubbling over with laughter, while the rest of the +ladies shared her mirth more or less openly, according to the degree of +friendship entertained for Miss Kingsley. + +When the party rounded the last bend near the spring, a tall, spare man, +conspicuous in a generous expanse of white shirt-bosom, and low, +stiff-brimmed hat, hastily laid down the drinking-cup, and moved out of +sight, making the circuit of the bath-houses in his anxiety to avoid the +advancing column of fair ones. Uncle George was on hand, as usual, +smilingly filling glasses and dippers with the boiling waters, trying +between whiles to answer the numerous questions propounded, mostly in +regard to the retreating form disappearing among the manzanite on the +hillside. + +"It's the gentleman from Siskiyou." The words were addressed to Mrs. +Clayton, who was blowing little puffs of wind into the glass in her +hand, and seemed to have no interest in common with the eager, laughing +crowd about. "He and his pardner are both here; they own placer-mines on +Yreka Flats, and came here because the gentleman's liver is affected. +They're a funny couple--never speak to no ladies, and ain't sociable +like, only among themselves. His pardner--there he is now, going up +after him," pointing to a low-built, square-shouldered man, with black, +bushy eyebrows--"waits on him like a woman, and no two brothers couldn't +be more affectionate. His pardner told me his own self that when they +first came together, eighteen years ago, he got into a row at +Placerville--used to be Hangtown, then--and they were firing into him +thick and fast after he was down, when Mr. Brodie stepped in, picked him +up and carried him to their cabin, and nussed him till he was well +again. You see he limps a little yet; but then Mr. Brodie was the only +doctor he had, and he says it's a wonder to him he has any legs left at +all, he was so riddled with shot." + +Sufficient water having been drank, the ladies wended their way back, +scattering as they approached the hotel building--generally spoken of as +"the house"--which contained parlor, dining and assembly rooms. Some +sought their cottages, others climbed the hill-sides, while still others +visited the little stream rushing along through the green depths that +the stage-road overhung. Some had escorts, others went alone, or formed +groups of three or four; and all gave themselves up to the enjoyment of +that perfect freedom which makes the stay at these California +watering-places a recreation and a holiday. + +As the heat of the sun became more oppressive, the stragglers returned; +and the closed window-blinds of the cottages spoke of an unusually warm +day for the season. This, however, did not forbid the ushering in of the +next day with an extra heavy fog, which dripped from the eaves like +rain, and made more penetrating the wind that came in surly gusts and +rudely swept back the end of the shawl thrown Spanish-fashion over Mrs. +Clayton's shoulder. Her right hand grasped a bottle filled with water +from the Springs; and the left, hidden until now under the shawl, was +bound up in a white cloth. The wind had carried her hat away, too; and +after looking helplessly around, she deposited the bottle on the bench +nearest her, and gave chase to the runaway. But the hat was suddenly +held up before her, and the bottle taken from the bench. It was the +gentleman from Siskiyou, who stammered something she did not understand, +and to which she replied sweetly and plaintively, "Thank you, ever so +much. I am so helpless with that hand. I sprained it some weeks ago, +falling from a carriage, and did not know how bad it was till the +doctors sent me here. I must have hurt it again yesterday; and now I've +got to go about like a cripple." The voice was like a child's; and a +half sob seemed to rise in her throat as she spoke the last words, and a +tell-tale moisture shone in her eyes. + +He had awkwardly set the bottle back on the bench; and when she prepared +to move on, he bent over to seize the bottle and carry it for her. In +his nervousness he did not heed that she, too, was stooping forward; and +only when their heads came in contact did he realize how near he had +stood to her. A deep scarlet overspread his sallow face, while Mrs. +Clayton said, "Oh, will you carry the bottle for me? Thanks. I wanted to +bathe my hand, and was afraid to go more than once through the fog and +wind." + +They reached the cottage, where he deposited the bottle on the +door-steps, and withdrew with a somewhat awkward, but perfectly +chivalrous bow. + +After breakfast, when the ground was still too wet to walk out, Jenny, +sitting in the low rocking-chair by the open door, was startled by +footsteps crunching under the window; and a moment later Mr. Brodie +placed a bottle at her feet. + +"I thought it might be better for your wrist to have the water hot to +bathe it in; that's just from the spring, and I walked fast." In spite +of the unvarnished speech, there was something about the man that made +it plain to her why people involuntarily spoke of him as "the +gentleman," when his partner was always spoken of merely as his partner. + +It was only common politeness that she should allow him to sit on the +door-step, while she immersed the soft, white hand; and the bottle of +hot spring water was repeated, till she declared the ground dry enough +to walk down to the spring with him. Any number of necks were stretched +from parlor-doors and windows, when the shy, bashful gentleman from +Siskiyou was seen escorting Mrs. Clayton; but falling in with a train of +ladies at the Springs, they all walked back together. Mr. Brodie, +unnoticed apparently by Jenny, and uncomfortable among so many of the +"contrary sex," quietly slipped away under the shadow of a clump of +young trees, where he was joined directly by his partner, who had +watched him uneasily all the morning. + +It was a warm, cloudless day, a few weeks later, and Mrs. Clayton had +not joined the picnic party--because, Ben. Brodie said to himself, with +a flutter of his unsophisticated heart, _he_ had felt too unwell in the +morning to go. Going down to the Springs alone, Jenny met his partner, +and asked pleasantly whether Mr. Brodie had yet recovered from his +attack of last night. + +"Thank you, Miss, he's better; but it's my opinion as how he'd get well +much quicker if he left these Springs and went down to 'Frisco for a +spell." + +"But, Mr. Perkins, his liver is affected; and these waters are said to +be very beneficial." + +"Yes, Miss, it _was_ his liver; but I think as how it's in the chist +now; and"--doggedly aside--"mebbee the heart, too; and he'll never be +himself again while he's up here." + +"Oh, you must not see things so black. See, there comes Mr. Brodie now." + +"Yes--" something like an oath was smothered between the bearded lips, +and the shaggy eyebrows were lowered portentously--"so I see. Ben, +didn't I tell yer to stay in the house, and I'd fetch yer the water?" + +Whenever Si Perkins addressed Jenny as "Miss"--which was almost +invariably his custom--it made her think of a short conversation between +Mr. Brodie and herself, soon after their first acquaintance. He had +asked her, with an assumed indifference, but a nervous tremor in his +voice, "And you are a widow, Mrs. Clayton?" upon which she had turned +sharply and said, snappishly, "Would I be away up here all alone if I +had a husband?" It flashed through her mind again, as she saw the +partner's darkened brow and working lips when Mr. Brodie answered, "It's +all right, Si; I wanted to come;" and he laughed a short, confused laugh +that stood for any number of unexpressed sentiments--particularly when +Jenny was by. + +"Shall we walk up toward the garden?" he asked of Jenny. + +"I think there is shade all the way up," she replied, throwing an uneasy +look on Si Perkins's scowling face. "You may light your cigar, if you +feel well enough to smoke." Mr. Brodie turned to his partner to ask for +a match, and the next moment left him standing alone in the sun, as +though he had no more existence for him. + +They halted many times on their way to the garden. It was in an opposite +direction from the Springs; but here as there the road had been partly +cut out on the mountain-side--partly filled in--so that it formed a +terrace overhanging the dense forest-growth in the ravine below, while +on the banks and mountain-tops above grew pines and madrones, the +manzanite shrub and treacherous gloss of the poison-oak making the whole +look like a carefully planted park. The "garden" was a little mountain +valley, taking its name from an enclosed patch, where nothing was grown, +but where the neglected fields were kept fresh and green by the little +rivulet flowing from the cold spring at the foot of an immense sycamore. +Farther on were groups of young oaks, and under these were benches; but +Jenny preferred sitting in the shade of the pines on the clean, sweet +grass. The birds, never molested here, hovered fearlessly about them, +singing and chirping, the blue and yellow butterflies keeping time to +the music. + +For quite a while Mr. Brodie had been watching Jenny's lithe figure +darting hither and thither, trying to take the butterflies prisoners +under her hat; her eyes sparkled, and she shouted merrily whenever she +had secured a prize, which, after a moment's triumph, she always set +free again. + +"Come and sit down," called Mr. Brodie to her, "or you will hurt your +hand again, and all my three weeks' doctoring will be thrown away." + +"It hurts me now," said Jenny, ruefully, "for I struck it against that +tree." + +She held up the offending hand, and he inspected it narrowly, looking up +suddenly into her eyes, as though to read in them an answer to something +he had just thought. But it was hard to read anything there, though +Jenny had the sweetest eyes in the world--laughing and sad by turns, and +of warm liquid light. What their color was, it was hard to determine. +They had been called black, hazel, gray; never blue. Her smile was as +unfathomable as her eyes; and you could read nothing of her life, her +history, her character, from either brow or lip. Her hand alone--it was +the right one--as it rested on the sward beside her, might have told to +one better versed in such reading than Ben Brodie, how, like Theodore +Storm's "Elizabeth," it had, "through many a sleepless night, been +resting on a sore, sick heart." + +He raised the hand tenderly, not understanding its secret, and asked, +stroking it as we do a child's, "What was my partner saying to you as I +came up a while ago?" + +"He wants you to go to San Francisco, away from here. Would you go and +leave me here alone, when you know how lonesome I should be without +you?" + +She heard his low, nervous laugh, as he moved uneasily, and held the +hand tighter; but when she looked up into his face, expecting an answer, +it came in his usual abrupt, or, as Jenny said, "jerky" style. + +"No, of course I wouldn't go. I'll stay as long as you want me to. +I--I--like you--pretty well." + +Jenny's paling cheek blazed up crimson, and she looked fairly aghast as +she repeated mechanically, "'Like you pretty well.' Thank you. _Like_ +me, indeed!" She had drawn away her hand, like a pettish child, and she +muttered, a wicked smile breaking over her face, "I don't believe the +man _could_ love any one if he tried. But I'll find out;" and she turned +again to where he sat, disconsolate at the loss of her hand. + +Her quicker ear caught the crackling of dry twigs before he could speak +again, and a shrill scream burst from her lips. He was on his feet in an +instant, and flung his arms about the trembling form before his eye +could follow the direction of hers. + +"The bear!" she stammered; "the grizzly--there, there!" and the story of +the huge grizzly having been seen in the mountains those last weeks +flashed through his mind. + +"Be still!" he said, as she glided from his arms to the ground; "he +cannot hurt you till he has killed me." He stooped to pick up a fallen +branch, and as he did so his eyes came on a level with a large black +calf, rolling over and over in the tall grass. He flung the stick from +him with a disgusted "Pshaw!" and Jenny dropped her hands from her eyes +when his laugh fell on her ear. She joined in the laugh, though hers +sounded a little hysterical; and then insisted on returning immediately, +and his promise to keep the tragi-comic _intermezzo_ a profound secret. + +Days passed before Jenny would venture out again; and poor Mr. Brodie +wandered about like one lost, dreading to visit the cottage, because of +a sudden indescribable reserve of the fair tenant, yet held as by +invisible hands in the nearest neighborhood of the place. One day, +sitting with blinds closed and a headache, ready for an excuse to all +who should come to tempt her out, Jenny missed the tall form passing +shyly by the door half a dozen times per diem. The next morning she met +Si Perkins--by the merest accident, of course, on her part--coming from +the spring with a bottle of water. + +"Is Mr. Brodie sick?" she asked, quickly. + +"Yes, Miss; he was took bad night before last; but he's better," he +added, anxious to prevent--he hardly knew what. + +"Very well; you may tell Mr. Brodie that I am coming to see him and read +to him this afternoon." She spoke determinedly, almost savagely, as +though she anticipated finding Si Perkins at the door with drawn sword, +ready to dispute the entrance. + +She was shocked to find Mr. Brodie so pale and thin as he lay on the bed +that afternoon; and Si Perkins, in a tone that seemed to accuse her of +being the cause, said, "I told you it was his chist, Miss; he's getting +powerful weak up here in the mountains, and yit he won't go down." + +She was an angel while he was too sick to leave his room, sitting by him +for hours, reading to him in her soft child's voice, and speaking to +him so gently and tenderly that he felt a better, and oh! so much +happier a man when he first walked out beside her again. + +Then there came a day when Ben Brodie stopped at the cottage of his kind +nurse, and with the air of a culprit asked Jenny to come with him, "away +up into the mountains." The light that flashed in her eyes a moment was +quenched by something that looked strangely like a tear, as she turned +to reach for her hat. It was early afternoon, and most people were still +in their cottages, with blinds, and perhaps eyes too, closed. The two +walked slowly, or climbed rather, resting often and looking back to +where they could see the white cottages blinking through the trees. The +wind blew only enough to rustle the pine branches, without stirring the +sobs and wails that lay dormant in those trees. Jays and woodpeckers +went with them, and many a shining flower was broken by the way. At last +Jenny stopped and looked around. + +"Don't let us go farther--who knows but what we may encounter another +bear?" she said roguishly; and he prepared a soft seat for her under the +pines, by pulling handfuls of grass and heaping it up in one place. + +She smiled to herself as she watched him; his awkwardness had left him, +and for the comfort of one whom he only "liked pretty well," he was +taking a great deal of pains, she thought. When she was seated, and had +made him share the grass seat, the restraint suddenly returned, and he +fell to stroking her hand again, and stammered something about her wrist +being better. + +"Yes," she affirmed, "and I mean to return to the city in a day or two." + +He blushed like a girl. "May I go with you?" he asked; and then jumped +at once into the midst of a "declaration"--which had evidently been +gotten by heart--winding up by asking again, "and now may I go with you +to San Francisco, Jenny? and will you marry me?" + +Her eyes had been fixed on the lone bare crag away off across the +valley; and the color in them had changed from light gray to deep black, +and had faded again to a dull heavy gray. + +"You may go to San Francisco, of course, though I shall not see you +there. And 'I like you pretty well,' too; but you must not dare to dream +that I could ever marry you." + +A little linnet in the tree above them had hopped from branch to branch, +and now sat on the lowest, almost facing them. When Jenny's voice, +stone-cold and harsh, had ceased, he broke into a surprised little +chirp, and then uttered quick, sharp notes of reproof or remonstrance. +Jenny understood either the language of the bird, or what the wild, +startled eyes looking into hers said, for the hand that had lain in his +was tightly clinched beside her, telling a tale she would not let her +face repeat. + +When the lamp had been lighted in her cottage that night, she stood +irresolute by the window from where she could see the Brodie-Perkins +habitation. On her way to the dining-room she had come unawares on Si +Perkins instructing a waiter to bring tea to their cottage; and though +she had asked no question, her eyes had rested wistfully on the +partner's stern face. Now she paced the room, her face flushed, her +hands clasped above her aching head, then dropped again idle and +nerveless by her side. + +"It is too late," she said, at last; "and it can never, never be. Then +why make myself wretched over it?" and with a sudden revulsion of +feeling she raised the curtain and looked steadily over to the other +cottage. "It is only the law of reprisals, after all, Ben Brodie! To be +sure _you_ did not break my heart--but--that other man--and--you are all +men." Her voice had died to a whisper; and, drawing writing material +toward her at the table, she was in the midst of her letter before the +vengeful light died out of her eyes. Once she laid her head on her arm +and sobbed bitterly; but she finished the letter, closed and directed +it, and turned down the light so that she could not be seen going from +the cottage. The night air was damp and chilly, and before descending +the three wooden steps that led from the little stoop to the ground, her +unsteady hand sought the dress-pocket to drop her letter in; and then +she drew the shawl and hood close about her. + +She shuddered the next morning, as she threw a last look back into the +room from which her trunk and baggage had already been taken, and she +muttered something about the dreariness of an empty room and an empty +heart. But when her numerous dear friends came to the stage to bid a +last farewell, Jenny's face looked so radiant that many a one turned +with secret envy from the woman to whom life must seem like one +continuous holiday. Si Perkins, with eyebrows drawn deep down, was +attentively studying a newspaper by the open window of the reading-room; +and when Jenny threw a look back from the stage, she fancied that a +trembling hand was working at the blinds of the two partners' cottage; +and the sallow, ghastly face, and wild, startled eyes of yesterday, rose +up reproachfully before her. + +The day dragged slowly on; "from heat to heat" the sun had kissed the +tree-tops with its drowsy warmth, hushing to sleep the countless birds +that make the mountain-side their home. With the cool of evening came +the low breeze that shook the sleepers from repose, and sighed sadly, +sadly through the pines. + +"Has the stage come in?" asked Ben Brodie slowly, as he lay with closed +eyes and feverish brow on his bed in the cottage. + +"Nearly an hour ago," answered Si Perkins, in his growling voice. He had +tried hard to maintain his usual key, but his eyes rested with deep +concern on his friend's face as he spoke. + +"And was there any one in the stage whom you knew?" + +"No one." + +The sick man opened his eyes, and closed them again wearily. His lips +worked spasmodically for an instant; then he asked resolutely, but in an +almost inaudible tone, "Did not _she_ come back, Si? Are you sure? Did +you see all the passengers?" + +"It's no use, Ben; she's gone, and she'll never come back." + +"But, Si"--the quivering lips could hardly frame the words--"have you +been to her cottage? I had not asked you to look, you know; but will you +go to her room now, and see if she has not come back?" + +Without a word Si took his hat, his lips twitching almost as perceptibly +as Ben Brodie's. When he had reached the door the sick man said, "You +are not mad, Si, are you? Have patience with me; I shall be better--so +much better--soon, and then you will forgive me." + +Si turned and held the feverish hand a moment, muttering that he'd go +to--a very hot place if his partner bade him, and then left the room. + +Though he knew the utter folly of such a proceeding, he went to the +vacant cottage, and peered through the open blind into the vacant room. +There was something so death-like and still about the place that he +turned with heavy heart and eyes bent down to the three steps that led +from the stoop to the ground. Something white shimmered up out of the +crevice between the stoop and the first step, and he bent down, saying +to himself, "If it's only a scrap of paper, Ben is spoony enough to want +it, and kiss it mebbee, because it was hers." + +The dampness of the past night had saturated the paper, and drying again +in the sun, a portion of the letter--for such it proved to be--adhered +to the board as Si attempted to draw it out. The letter unfolded itself, +and fluttered lightly before Si's face, who bestowed a blessing on the +"cobweb" paper, and then doggedly sat down to read what was written on +it. His shaggy eyebrows seemed to grow heavier as he read, and his face +turned a livid brown and then red again. When he had finished, he threw +a hasty look over toward their cottage, and crushing the letter in +fierce but silent wrath, he dropped the wad into his pocket and slowly +retraced his steps. + +"She hasn't come?" + +If Ben had moved from his bed during Si's absence, the latter did not +notice any derangement of furniture or bed-clothes, and he now dropped +heavily into a chair beside his friend's bed. + +"When you get well, old fellow, we must go." + +"Where? To San Francisco?" + +"San Francisco be ----. No; to Siskiyou." + +There was no response. The fever had gone down, and Ben lay pale and +still, like a corpse almost, except that his fingers seemed striving to +touch something which evaded his grasp. The wind had grown stronger, and +on it came borne the notes of the grossbeak, who strays down from the +mountain-tops in the evening, and makes those who hear him think of +home, of absent friends, and of all we hold dearest, and all who have +gone from us farthest in this world. + +"How mournfully the wind sings!" said Ben, softly. "It seems like her +voice calling to me. But I will never see her again--. She could not +think of me as I did of her. I would lay down my life for her; but she +could only like me a little. She was too good for me." + +"Ben, Ben! I can't bear to hear you talk so. Oh! that wicked, wicked +woman!" + +"Hush, Si; she was an angel; and when I was sick she taught me to pray." +The gaunt hand that had been raised as if to ward off the harsh words +his partner would say, fell back on his breast, where he laid it across +the other. "Our Father who art in heaven--" The fingers stiffened, and +the heavy lids sank over the weary eyes. + +"Ben, old pard, look at me! Speak to me!" He bent over the motionless +form, and laid his hand caressingly on the wiry black hair. "Don't you +leave me alone in the world." The trembling hand glided down to his +friend's breast and laid itself over the heart. But the heart stood +still; and as he drew back his hand, it touched a cold, smooth object +that fell to the floor. He stooped, and lifted a small vial to the +light, and as he did so a great scalding tear fell on the label, just +where the word "Poison" was traced in large letters. + + +When Si Perkins returned to the Placer Mines, on Yreka Flats, he brought +with him only two articles which he seemed to consider of value. They +were always kept under lock and key. The one was a small vial, with the +word "Poison" on the label, blurred and blotted; the other a letter, +carefully smoothed out, after having been, to all appearances, cruelly +crushed and crumpled. + +The letter ran thus: + + + HOT SPRINGS, June 28. + + "DEAR JIM: I am coming home, and may be in San Francisco even + before this reaches you, unless I should be seized with a notion to + remain in San José, or visit the Warm Springs, or the Mission. My + wrist is not strong yet; and to tell you the truth, only 'the + persecutions of a man' are driving me away from here. I can see you + laugh, and hear you saying, 'At your old tricks, Jenny.' But though + I shall recount the whole affair to you when we meet, I shall not + allow you to laugh at the discomfiture of the gentleman from + Siskiyou. He is so terribly in earnest; and--oh! I remember but too + well the blow you struck my heart when you first told me that you + could never belong to me; that I could never be your lawful wife. + But I don't mean to grow sentimental. You may please issue orders + to Ah Sing and Chy Lun to 'set my house in order,' and look for me + any time between this and the 'glorious Fourth.' + + JENNY." + + + + +_SOMETHING ABOUT MY PETS._ + + +Many a bitter tear they have cost me--the different pets I have had: not +their possession, but their loss, which followed as inevitably as fate, +and as surely as day follows night. As far as my recollection goes back, +my four-footed friends have occupied prominent places in my affections, +and have eventually become the cause of great sorrow. The first doubt I +ever felt of the justice and humanity of the world in general, and my +kinsfolk in particular, was because of the cruel death of my favorite +dog, Arno, who had been given away after my older brother's death, to a +family who had more use and room for a large hunting-dog than my widowed +mother. + +At first, he refused utterly to stay with his new master; but when he +found that the doors of his old home were steadfastly closed against +him, he would lie in wait for me as I went to school; and on my way home +in the afternoon, he would always follow me, drawing back his nose and +fore-paws only in time to prevent their being pinched in by the +sharp-shutting gate, and looking wistfully through the paling with his +big, honest eyes. Perhaps my elders did not understand "dog-language" as +I did; but I knew that Arno fully appreciated the feeling which led me +to throw my arms around his neck and weep bitter, childish tears on his +brown head; and he felt comforted by my sympathy, I am sure, for he +would lick my hands, and wag his long-haired tail with a little joyous +whine, before trotting back to the broad stone steps in front of his new +master's house. But night always found him under my chamber window, +which looked out on a narrow lane, used as a thoroughfare; and here I +could hear his deep-mouthed bark all night long, as he kept fancied +marauders and real dogs from encroaching on our premises and his +self-chosen battle-ground. For he met his death here, at last. + +He had become quite aged; and the other dogs of the neighborhood had +frequently made common cause against him, for blocking up (to them) the +passage in the lane, but had never yet been able to rout him. One night, +however, they attacked him with overpowering numbers, and punished him +so severely that it was found to be necessary, or, at least, merciful, +the next morning, to send a bullet through his head and end his misery. +To me this all seemed terribly cruel, and I cried wildly, and sobbed out +my reproaches against everybody for having left him to lie out in the +street at night, instead of allowing him a safe shelter in the house. I +refused to be comforted, or adopt any other dog in his place; but +bestowed my affection and caresses impartially on all the stray dogs and +horses that happened to cross my path. + +Some time after I was married, a little spotted dog, of no particular +breed, sought shelter from the rain on the basement-steps, one day, and +refused to "tramp" when the shower was over. She was a short-legged, +smooth-haired little thing, with the brightest eyes I ever saw in a +dog's head. Tiny soon became my pet, and amply repaid us for the food +and shelter we had given her. She learned everything, and with such +ease, that I sometimes suspected I had taken into my family one who had +formerly been a public circus performer. She could stand on her hind +legs and beg for an apple or a piece of sugar; she could find and fetch +a hidden handkerchief, glove, or cap; she could jump through a hoop, and +could pick out from among a lot of articles the shawls, comforters, or +hats belonging to myself, or any member of the family. On the approach +of a buggy to the house, she would rush to the window, and if she +recognized it as the captain's, would scratch and whine till I opened +the door for her, in sheer self-defence. Dashing up to the buggy, she +would wag her tail with such vehemence as threatened to upset her little +round body--begging in this way for a glove, or the long buggy-whip, to +drag into the house. + +Tiny also knew the name of the different members of the family, whether +they occupied the same house with us, or only came on visits. If mother +came on a visit, for instance, I could send Tiny from the kitchen with a +key, a paper, or anything she could carry, and on my order, "Give it to +mother," she would carry it to the parlor, or wherever mother might be, +and lay it carefully in her lap, or on the sofa beside her. On the +order, "Kiss the captain," she would immediately dart at that gentleman, +and, if he ever so artfully avoided her little tongue for the time +being, she would watch the first opportunity to climb into his lap, or +jump on to a piece of furniture, to execute the command. + +Soon after Tiny's advent, a young stag-hound was given to the captain, +and him she took under her wing, though in size he could boast of three +times her own volume. Dick, I am very sorry to own, was not so well +treated as Tiny; and I smite my breast even now, and say very +penitently, "_mea culpa_," when I think of how I hurt him, one day. I +was lying on the sofa, half asleep from the heat and the exertion of +cutting the leaves of a new magazine. Presently, Dick approached, and +before I could open my eyes, or ward him off, he had jumped on the sofa +and settled full on my head and face. Angry and half-stifled, I flung +the dog with all my might to the floor, where he set up such a pitiful +crying, that I knew he must be seriously hurt. Jumping up, I saw him, +quite a distance from the sofa, holding up his foreleg, on which his paw +was dangling in a loose, out-of-place manner. Comprehending what I had +done, I carried him into the next room, and poured the basin full of +water, in which I held his paw; and then bound rags on the dislocated +limb, steeping the paw into the water occasionally, to keep down the +swelling till the captain should come. Sorry as I felt for having +inflicted such pain on the poor animal, it was a perfect farce to watch +his proceedings, and I had laughed till my sides ached before the +captain got home. It so happened that mother and one or two other near +friends came in during the course of the day. As soon as any one entered +the room, Dick, who had been allowed to take up his quarters on a +blanket in the sitting-room, would hobble up, hold out his rag-wrapped +paw, and, elevating his nose, would utter heart-rending cries of pain, +thus "passing his hat for a pennyworth of sympathy," as unmistakably as +I have known human beings to do many a time before. Then, with cries and +grimaces, he would induce the beholder to follow him pityingly into the +next room, where he would immerse his foot in the water, as I had made +him do, once or twice. During this performance Tiny would keep close +behind him, and with little sympathetic whines, would echo all his cries +and complainings; and this show was repeated whenever they could get a +fresh spectator. + +At the same time, we had in our possession a horse, which, for sagacity, +kindness, and docility, outshone all the horses I have ever had the +fortune to become acquainted with. Not the most partial admiration of +Kitty's many virtues could lead me into believing her to be beautiful, +though she was by no means an ugly horse. A bright bay, with well-shaped +head, she was too short-bodied, though the long legs seemed to lay claim +to an admixture of English blood. Kitty was a saddle-nag as well as +buggy-horse, and the captain always chose her when he had a fatiguing +ride to take; though, for my part, I should have scorned to be seen +mounted on an ugly, stump-tailed thing like her. + +This is ingratitude, however; I have never had a more devoted friend +than Kitty. She was assigned to the duty of taking me out to "mother's +house," where she was always well pleased to go, for I used to take her +out of the harness and let her run loose under the orchard trees. I have +never met with a horse so expert at picking apples as she was; she never +injured the trees, and seemed always to know exactly which were the best +"eating apples." When the time came to go home, Kitty, like a sensible, +grateful horse, was always on hand; the only trouble was to get her back +into harness again--it generally being just milking-time then, and I +never liked to admit to any of the men that I could not harness a horse +as well as saddle it. So, it often happened that, after I got on the +road, Kitty would stop short and refuse to go a step farther. Whipping +would do no good on such occasions; she would only switch her tail, +stamp her foot impatiently, and turn her head around, as if to say: +"Don't you know that I have good reasons for acting so?" On throwing +down the lines, and examining the harness, I would be sure to find that +some buckle had been left unfastened, or some strap was dragging under +her feet. One day a soldier came to my assistance, and he said it was +the greatest wonder in the world that the horse had not kicked the buggy +to pieces, for I had fastened a buckle on the wrong side, and with every +step she took the buckle had pressed sorely into poor Kitty's flesh. I +could appreciate Kitty's good behavior all the more for having seen her +kick dashboard and shafts to splinters, one day, when the captain drove +her, and some part of the harness gave way. + +The friendship, however, was reciprocal; for many a bucket of cool, +fresh water, many a tea-tray full of oats, and many an apple and lump of +sugar had Kitty received at my hands, when she stopped at the door, or +was taken into the back yard, to await her master's leisure to ride. The +saddle she liked best, for under it she could move about in the yard. +She would follow me like a dog, and tried to make her way into the +basement one day, where I had gone to get some grain for her. I always +kept a sack of oats in the house, as we had no stable, and the horses +were boarded at a stable down town; but Kitty would have gone without +her dinner many a time had it not been for the "private feeds" I gave +her, as the captain's opinion was that horses should not be "pampered +and spoiled." Kitty knew how much I thought of her, and sometimes +presumed on it, too. I have known her--at times, when the captain +brought her into the yard late at night, previously to sending her to +the stable--to set up such a whinnying, stamping, and snorting, that, to +the captain's infinite amusement, I was compelled to leave my bed and +take her a handful of oats or a piece of sugar. And on the street, if I +met the captain mounted on or riding behind Kitty, she would instantly +step on the sidewalk and make a dive for my pocket, to extract the apple +she fancied concealed there. Moreover, she would allow Tiny to climb all +over her back; but Dick she always greeted with a snort, and +occasionally with a kick. + +One day the captain furnished a valuable addition to the "happy family," +without, in the least, intending to do so. It seems that just as he was +leaving the house, he saw an open market-wagon, and on it two forlorn +chickens broiling in the July sun. The man offered to sell him the +chickens, so he bought them, threw them over the fence, and called to +the servant to unfasten the string fettering the feet of the poor +animals. His order was not heard; and I knew nothing of the existence of +the chickens till Tiny's barking attracted my attention. There lay the +two chickens, gasping and panting, and the dogs, like all little +natures, exhibited great delight at being able to worry and distress the +poor, defenceless creatures. I dragged the poor things into the shade, +cut their fetters, and gave them "food and drink." One of the chickens +was a gay-feathered rooster, the other, a plain-looking hen, who +exhibited, however, by far the best sense, in this, that she did not +struggle to get away from me as "fighting Billy" did, but allowed me to +pass my hand over her soft dress, accompanying each stroke with a low +crooning "craw-craw," as though wishing to express her satisfaction with +her present position. When I thought the chickens were both safe and +comfortable in the yard, I went back to my favorite resting-place--a +soft rug, in front of the sitting-room fireplace. The summer was +extraordinarily warm, and I had repeatedly wandered all over the house +in search of the "coolest place," but had always returned to this. Not +far from me was a window, from which the shutters were thrown back +directly after noon, as there was shade then on this side of the house, +and nearly opposite was a door leading to the vine-clad porch. Glad +enough to pass a part of the hot afternoon in a _siesta_, I was +surprised on waking, and stretching out my feet, to push against a soft, +round ball; and the slow "craw-craw" I heard, caused me to start to a +sitting posture. There, sure enough, was chicky, cuddled up close to my +feet, repeating her monotonous song every time I deigned to take notice +of her. I had never believed before that chickens had brains enough to +feel affection or gratitude towards anybody; but I wish to state as an +actual fact that chicky, as long as she was in my possession, never let +a day pass that she did not come fluttering up the low steps to the +porch and visit me in the sitting-room. During my regular _siesta_ she +was always beside me; and if I attempted to close the door against her, +she would fly up to the window and come in that way. Indeed, she wanted +to take up her roost there altogether; and it was only with great +difficulty I could persuade her to remove to the back-yard. + +Fighting Billy proved by no means so companionable as chicky: within the +first week he had fought, single-handed, every rooster in the +neighborhood, and the second week he staggered about the yard with his +"peepers" closed, and showing general marks of severe punishment, from +the effects of which he died, in spite of aught we could do for his +relief. + +But our "happy family" was broken up, after awhile: the captain was +"called to the wars," and, in spite of all I could say, took Kitty with +him, as the "most reliable horse." Kitty never returned; and I spent one +whole day, during the captain's first visit home, in saying: "I told you +so," and crying over Kitty's loss. Next, Tiny was stolen; and Dick went +the way of most all "good dogs"--with our servant-girl's +butcher-beau--at whose house I saw him, shortly after Babette's +marriage, together with sundry lace-collars, table-cloths, and +napkin-rings that had mysteriously left the house about the same time +with her. Chicky disappeared the night before Thanksgiving day: perhaps +they couldn't get any turkey to give thanks for, and contented +themselves with a chicken. + +When the captain next came home, he found nothing but a squirrel--but +this squirrel was the greatest pet I had yet found. I came by it in this +way: two small, ragged boys pulled the bell one day, and, seeing a +little wooden cage in their hands, I went to the door immediately +myself. How the little wretches knew of my silly propensity for +collecting all vagabond, half-starved animals, I don't know; but they +showed me a scraggy little squirrel in the cage, and said, with the +utmost confidence, they wanted to sell it to me. + +"How much do you want for it?" I asked. + +"Two dollars," said the oldest, at a venture, and then opened his eyes +in astonishment, as much at his own audacity as at my silence--which +seemed to imply assent to his extortion. + +You see, I had opened the cage, and bunny had slipped out, scrambled up +on my arm, and lodged himself close around my neck, where he lay with +his little head tucked under my chin. How could I let the little thing +go? So I gave the boy his two dollars, for which he generously offered +to leave the cage, which offer I declined, intending to make a +house-dog of bunny. The sagacity, gentleness, and playfulness of little +Fritz are beyond all description; though his bump of destructiveness, I +must acknowledge, was also very largely developed. He was still young, +and I could keep him on a window-sill quite safely, till I felt sure of +his attachment to me, and his disinclination to make his escape. The +window-sill and the open window remained his favorite post to the end of +his life; though when he grew older, he would occasionally jump from my +bed-room window, in the second story, to the grass and flower-beds +below. He had not been in the house more than a week before he followed +me about like a dog, and took his place close by me at the table, eating +and drinking anything I had a mind to offer him. He drank coffee out of +a cup, and ate the meat I gave him--holding it in his paws, as little +children hold a strip of meat in their hands--nibbling and sucking it, +with great gusto. + +I cannot conceal that the wood work, the furniture, and all the books, +throughout the house, soon displayed ragged edges and torn surfaces; and +mother (who had taken up her abode with us), who punished Fritz for his +depredations sometimes, was held in high disfavor by him, in +consequence. When I was not at home, he would hardly allow her to touch +him, and would hide under the pillows on my bed, at her approach, +barking and scolding with great vehemence. To me he never said an +"unkind word;" on the contrary, I could hardly secure myself from his +caresses. Sometimes I would place him on the top of a tall cupboard, or +high wardrobe, to get him away from under my feet; but the moment I +passed anywhere within reaching-distance, he would fly down on me, and, +settling on my hand, face, or shoulder, would fall to licking my face, +and nibbling at my ears and nose, to assure me of his favor. I fear I +have slapped him more than once for marking my face with his little +sharp claws, when making one of these sudden descents. At night, he +slept under my pillow; and early in the morning he would creep out, +nibble at my eyelids, and switch me with his bushy tail. Without opening +my eyes, I would reach out for a handful of nuts--opened and placed +within reach the night before--and with these he would amuse himself for +a long while, always cleaning his face and paws after disposing of his +first breakfast. With sundown he went to sleep; but, of warm nights, +when I went to bed late, I would carry his little drinking-cup to him, +filled with ice-water. Half asleep, sometimes with his eyes closed, he +would take a long drink; but never once, of all those nights, did he +return to his pillow without first gratefully passing his little tongue +over the hand that held him. That he knew it was my hand, I am quite +certain; for if the captain ever attempted to touch him, in the middle +of the night, when Fritz was ever so sound asleep, he would immediately +start up with a snarl, and snap at the captain's fingers; whereas, if I +thrust my hand under the pillow, in the dead of night, he would lick it, +and rub his nose against it. + +With nothing but a little basket to carry him in, I took him with me for +a journey, on a Mississippi steamer. I left him in the basket, while +looking after my baggage; but when I returned to my state-room, he +suddenly jumped on my head from above, having eaten his way out, through +the lid of the basket, and climbed to the top-berth. The stewardess on +the steamer tried to steal him, when near port, but Fritz had made such +good use of his sharp claws and teeth that she was fain to own: "She had +on'y wanted to _tech_ the lilly bunny--hadn't wanted to hurt'm, 'tall." + +It makes me sad, even now, to think of the closing scene of Fritz's +short, but, let me hope, happy life. Once a lady, the mother of a +terrible little boy, had come to spend the day with us; and I soon +discovered that either Fritz or the little boy must be caged "up and +away." So, pretending to be afraid that the boy might get hurt, but in +reality fearing only for Fritz's welfare, I carried the squirrel up into +the lumber-room, where I brought to him nuts without number, apples, +sugar, crackers, and water to bathe in and drink from. There was a pane +broken out of the window-sash, but this I covered with a piece of +paste-board, and then went down to entertain the lady and her detestable +little boy. Seated at the window, not long after, I saw an urchin come +running around the next corner, and, when barely within speaking +distance, he shouted at the top of his voice: "Say, Missis, they's got +him, 'round here in the cooper-yard, and he's dead--the squirrel!" he +added, in explanation. + +Though by no means in a toilet representing a "street-dress"--in fact, +with only one slipper on--I started off on a run, and never stopped till +my youthful mentor pointed to a circle of men and boys, gathered around +an object lying on the ground. It was Fritz, writhing in the last +agonies of death, while the boys were calling each other's attention to +the contortions of the poor little body. In a moment, I was among them, +had lifted Fritz in my arms, and held him to my face. + +"Who did that?" I asked, with pain and anger struggling in my heart; +"which of you little brutes killed the poor, harmless thing?" + +The little ragamuffin who had led me to the spot, pointed to two boys +making ineffectual attempts to hide a long stick, they were carrying, +behind them. + +"They was a-hitting 'm like fury, and then I runned to tell you; please, +Missis, gimme a dime." + +Poor little Fritz! He knew me, even in the death-struggle; for he passed +his tongue over my hand once more, just before the last convulsive +shudder ran through his body, and his little limbs grew stiff and cold. +I don't feel, in the least, ashamed to own that I cried--cried many +tears--cried bitterly; and I felt dreadfully lonesome when I woke up at +night, and, from the sheer force of habit, put my hand under my pillow +without finding Fritz there. I made a vow then never to have any more +pets; but it was a rash one. + +Some years later, when the war was over, the "theatre of our life" was +to be shifted from the crowded, populous city to the lonely wilds of the +frontier country. When we reached Fort Leavenworth, the quarters in the +barracks were all occupied, and a number of our officers were assigned +quarters in the Attaché Barracks. The captain had decided to purchase a +horse from the government stables, and turn him over to me for +saddle-use, as I did not want to go to our frontier-post without a horse +of my own to depend on. It was in June; and the little square yards in +front of the Attaché Barracks were fresh and sweet with grass and +blossoming red clover. The door of our quarters stood open; the captain +had gone out, and I was startled by a knock on the door-post. Looking +up, I saw the head of an orderly appearing at the door; but, poking over +his head, I saw that of a horse evidently taking a strict inventory of +everything in the room. Of course, I was at the door, and on the horse's +neck, in the course of a very few seconds, for, from the orderly, I soon +understood that the captain had sent the horse for me to look at. +Colonel L----, with his two little girls, came up just then, and, as we +were all going in the same command, the acquisition of a horse for the +march had an interest for all parties. Together, we surrounded and +admired the beautiful white animal; and the two little girls and myself +were soon braiding clover-blossoms into Toby's tail, and trimming his +head and neck with garlands of butter-cups--operations which did not, in +the least, interfere with his good humor, or his appetite for the juicy +grass he was cropping. The captain, it seems, had already tried his +speed and mettle; he was not appraised at at any unreasonable figure, +and so Toby was mine before we took up the line of march for the Plains. + +From the wagon-master I heard, later, that Toby had been captured in +Texas, during the war. He had been raised and trained by a woman who had +followed him around the country for some time, trying to get her pet +back again; but Uncle Sam, no doubt, had the best right to him, and he +was placed in the stables of the Fitting-out Depot. One thing certainly +spoke for the truth of the story: whenever Toby had been let loose and +refused to be tied up again, he would always allow me to come up to him, +when he would turn and throw up his heels at the approach of a man. + +Toby was soon a universal favorite and proved himself worthy of the +preference, though he had one or two tricks about him that were by no +means commendable. First: he was an inveterate thief; and then--at times +when he was not ridden, but led along by the orderly--he had a mean way +of lying back and letting the other horse pull him along, that fairly +exasperated me. His thefts, however, were always carried out in such a +cunning manner that I readily forgave the sin for the sake of the skill. +We had not been long on the march when Toby perpetrated his first +robbery. The captain rode him, and when the command halted for lunch, he +would come up to our ambulance, dismount, and let Toby go perfectly +free--for we had soon found that he would not stray from the command. +Toby learned to know the contents and appliances of lunch-baskets very +soon, particularly as he received his portion from ours regularly every +day. One day, after having dispatched his bread-and-butter and lump of +sugar in the neighborhood of our ambulance, he walked over to Colonel +L----'s, and while Mrs. L---- was leaning out on the other side, +speaking to the colonel, Toby quietly lifted the lunch-basket from her +lap, deposited it on the grass, overturned it, and helped himself to the +contents. Unfortunately for Toby, Mrs. L---- had spread mustard on her +ham-sandwiches, and the sneezing and coughing of the erring horse first +called her attention to his presence, and the absence of her +lunch-basket. + +Not long after, we made camp very early in the day, and the major's +folks came to fill a long-standing promise to take tea with us, and +spend the evening at our tent. The visit passed off very pleasantly, and +an engagement was made to return it at an early day. Toby, who was +prowling about the tent, no doubt overheard the conversation, and felt +it incumbent on him to fill the engagement as soon as possible. +Consequently, he stationed himself near the major's tent-fly the very +next morning, and paid close attention to the preparations going on for +tea; and just as the cook had put the finishing-touch to the table, and +had stepped back to call the family and set the tea and the meats on the +table, Toby gravely walked up, swallowed the butter with one gulp, upset +the sugar-bowl, gobbled up the contents, and proceeded leisurely to +investigate the inside of a tin jelly-can. The soldiers, who had watched +his manoeuvres from a distance, had been too much charmed with the +performance to give warning to the cook; but when he made his +appearance, meat-dish and tea-pot in hand, they gave such a shout as set +the whole camp in an uproar, and Toby was fairly worshipped by the +soldiers from that day out. + +But the faithfulness and patience of the horse, in time of need, made me +forgive him all these tricks. Months later--when still on the march, in +the most desolate wilderness, in the midst of the pathless mountains, +when other horses "gave up the ghost," and were shot at the rate of a +dozen a day--Toby held out, carrying me on his back, day after day, +night after night, till his knees trembled with fatigue and faintness, +and he turned his head and took my foot between his teeth, at last, to +tell me he could carry me no farther! Not once, but a dozen times, has +he repeated this manoeuvre; once, too, when we were coming down a very +steep hill, he planted his forefeet down firmly, turned his head, and +softly bit the foot I held in the stirrup, to tell me that I must +dismount. + +The most singular devotion of one horse to another, I witnessed while +out in New Mexico. The captain found it necessary to draw a saddle-horse +for his own use, and selected one from a number which the volunteers had +left behind. It had been half-starved latterly, and was vicious, more +from ill-treatment than by nature. The first evening when it was brought +to our stable, it kicked the orderly so that he could not attend to the +horses next morning, and the cook had to look after them. I went into +the stable to bring Toby a titbit of some kind, and here found that Copp +(the new horse) was deliberately eating the feed out of Toby's trough. +The cook called my attention to it, and explained that the horse had +done the same thing last night; and on interfering, the orderly had been +viciously kicked by the animal. I reached over to stroke the creature's +mane, but the cook called to me to stop, holding up his arm to show +where the horse had bitten him. I went quickly back into the tent, got a +large piece of bread, and held it out to Copp. In an instant he had +swallowed it, and had fallen back on Toby's feed again, without meeting +with the least opposition from that side. Toby evidently had better +sense, and more charity, than the men had shown; he knew that the horse +was half-starved, and wicked only from hunger. + +If I had never believed before that horses were capable of reasoning, +and remembering kind actions, Copp's behavior toward Toby would have +converted me. Often, when out on timber-cutting or road-making +excursions, I accompanied the captain, and, mounted on Toby, would hold +Copp by the bridle or picket-rope, so as to allow the orderly to +participate in the pleasures of the day. The grass was rich up in the +mountains, and Toby would give many a tug at the bridle to get his head +down where he could crop it; this, however, had been forbidden by the +captain, once for all, and Toby was compelled to hold his head up in the +proper position. Copp, however, was allowed to crop the grass; but he +never ate a mouthful, of which he did not first give Toby half! +Sometimes he would go off as far as the bridle would reach, gather up a +large bunch in his mouth, and then step back to Toby and let him pull +his share of it out from between his teeth. But no other horse dare +approach Toby in Copp's sight. I have seen him jump quite across the +road for the purpose of biting a horse that was rubbing his nose against +Toby's mane in a friendly manner. One day we met a party of disappointed +gold-hunters, who were anxious to dispose of a little, light wagon they +had. The captain bought it, thinking to break Toby and Copp to harness. +Toby took to his new occupation kindly enough, but Copp could only be +made to move in his track when I stood at a distance and called to him. +He would work his way up to me with a wild, frightened air; but the +moment I was out of his sight, neither beating nor coaxing could induce +him to move a step. + +But--dear me--those horses have taken up my thoughts so completely, that +I have almost exhausted this paper without speaking of the other pets I +have had. The horned toad could never make its way into my good graces; +nor the land-turtle, neither, after it had once "shut down" on my dog +Tom's tail. They were both abolished by simply leaving them on the road. +The prairie-dog refused to be tamed, but ran away, the ungrateful +wretch, with collar, chain, and all; a living wonder, no doubt, to his +brethren in the prairie-dog village, through which we were passing at +the time. + +But my mink, Max, was a dear little pet. He was given me by a soldier at +Fort Union, and had been captured on the Pecos River, near Fort Sumner. +He was of a solid, dark-brown color, and the texture of his coat made it +clear at once why a set of mink-furs is so highly prized by the ladies. +His face was anything but intelligent; yet he was as frisky and active +as any young mink need be. It was while we were still on the march, that +Max took his place in the ambulance by me as regularly as day came. When +we made camp in the afternoon, he was allowed to run free, and when it +grew dark, I would step to the tent-door, call "Max! Max!" and +immediately he would come dashing up, uttering sounds half-chuckle, +half-bark, as if he were saying: "Well, well--ain't I coming as fast as +I can?" + +On long days' marches he would lie so still in the ambulance, that I +often put out my hand to feel whether he was beside me; and wherever I +happened to thrust my fingers, his mouth would be wide open to receive +them, and a sharp bite would instantly apprise me of his whereabouts. He +had his faults, too--serious faults--and one of them, I fear, led to his +destruction. Travelling over the plains of New Mexico, in the middle of +summer, is no joking matter, for man or mink, and a supply of fresh, +cool water, after a hot day's march, is not only desirable, but +necessary. But it is not always an easy matter to get water; and I have +known the men to go two or three miles for a bucketful. Getting back to +camp weary and exhausted, they would naturally put the bucket in the +only available place--on the ground; and the next moment, Max, who was +always on hand for his share of it, would suddenly plunge in and swim +"'round and 'round" in pursuit of his tail--choosing to take his drink +of water in this manner, to the great disgust of the tired men. + +Company "B" was still with us at this time, and the tent of the company +commander was pitched not far from ours. Sergeant Brown, of this +company, was in possession of a dozen or two of chickens; and these, I +suspect, were the cause of the mink's death. Like all animals out in the +wilderness, the chickens could be allowed to run free, without ever +straying away from their owner: there was thought to be no danger +lurking near for them; but suddenly one or two were found with their +throats torn open, and the blood sucked from their lifeless bodies. Max +was accused, with the greater show of truth, as the cook of the +lieutenant had caught him the next day rolling away an egg, which he had +purloined from the lieutenant's stock of provisions. The cook, following +Max, discovered that he had already three eggs hidden in the +neighborhood of our tent. I grew alarmed for the safety of my pet, +though I knew that the men of our company would not have harmed a hair +of his brown, bear-like head. + +One night I stepped to the tent-door to call Max; but no Max answered. +The orderly was sent to look through the tents, as Max sometimes stopped +with the men who showed any disposition to play with him--but he could +not be found. I spent an uneasy night, calling "Max! Max!" whenever I +heard the least noise outside the tent. Next morning I got up betimes, +and as soon as I had swallowed my breakfast, went down toward the Rio +Grande. The ground grew broken and rocky near the banks of the river, +and I half thought he might have returned to his native element. I +climbed to a point where I could see the river, and called "Max! Max!" +but heard nothing in answer, save the rolling of a little stone I had +loosened with my foot. "Max! Max!" I called again; but the dull roar of +the water, where it surged lazily against the few exceptional rocks on +the bank, was all I could hear. Going back to camp, I found the tents +struck, the command moving, and the ambulance waiting for me. Wiping the +tears from my face, I climbed in--shaking the blankets for the fiftieth +time to see if Max had not mischievously hidden among them. + +From a conversation I overheard long afterward, I concluded that Max had +fallen a victim to Sergeant Brown's revengeful spirit--in fact, had been +slaughtered in atonement for those assassinated chickens. + + + + +_POKER-JIM._ + + +Two motherless girls, and only a brother a few years older left to +protect them. + +When the father died, the mother had turned the old homestead--for there +_are_ houses in San Francisco fifteen and twenty years old--into a +source of revenue from which she provided for the children. The father +had left nothing save debts--gambling debts--and the fraternity had not +called on the widow to settle these. For her own existence she seemed to +need nothing--absolutely nothing--but the caresses of her children, and +the happiness and contentment mirrored in their eyes. When she died the +girls were old enough, and competent, to look after the house, which the +mother had made a pleasant home to many a "roomer" who had come a +stranger to the city, had been badgered and harassed by flint-eyed, +stony-hearted landladies, and had at last, by some good fortune, found +his way into the precincts of the widow's cozy, quiet walls. The son +had, through the influence of some of the roomers, obtained a position +in a wholesale liquor establishment, where the salary was high, and--the +temptation great. + +That the two young girls should carry on the house just as their dying +mother had left it to them, was something no one in San Francisco would +think of commenting upon. And as the proverbial chivalry of the +Californian would prompt him to suffer inconvenience and loss rather +than to deprive women in any way thrown on his care or his protection, +they missed only their mother's love and presence in the home, which +remained home to them still. After a while the painful truth dawned on +them that their brother was being weaned away from it. His evenings were +now but seldom spent with them in the little sitting-room whose +ivy-mantled bay-window looked out on the garden, where the flower-beds +had moved closer up to the house as the lots became more valuable, and +the orchard had been cut down to a few trees on the grass-plot. + +At first the excuse was, that customers from the country, buying heavily +of the firm, had a right to expect attentions not strictly of a business +nature from him, its chief representative. Then his absence from home +grew more protracted, and often midnight tolled from St. Mary's before +his unsteady feet mounted the door-steps. One night, a lady, attracted +to the balcony by an unusually brilliant moon, when she awoke from her +midnight slumbers, wonderingly saw a carriage drive up to the house +where the two sisters lay in peaceful sleep. She was too far off to see +whether there was a number on the carriage, or what the number was. +Neither could she distinguish the face of the driver, nor that of the +gentleman who assisted another, whom she rightly judged to be Edward +Ashburne, from the carriage into the house. That the face of the one who +supported, or rather carried, young Edward, was deadly white, framed in +by a heavy black beard, was all she could tell. "Poor girls!" she +soliloquized; "better that the boy was dead than turn drunkard, and +gamble, like his father." + +The carriage drove off rapidly after the gentleman--who, as she thought, +had helped Ned to the door and rang the bell--had re-entered it; and +carriage-driver and ghostly-faced gentleman could never be found or +heard of afterward. + +What the neighbor-lady heard still further that same night was, first, +the furious barking, then the doleful howling of the young Newfoundland +dog, which the Misses Ashburne had recently "adopted," and, soon after, +a wild, heart-rending cry. + +"The horrid boy!" she continued, full of sympathy; "is he so beastly +drunk? Could he have struck one of his sisters?" + +Aye, good woman; struck them both a terrible blow, but not with his +hand, for that lay powerless by his side. And the eyes were sightless +that stared vacantly into their own, as they bent over him where he lay +stretched out on the hall-floor--his coat folded under his head, his +latch-key close at hand. Only a painful gasp answered their pitiful +entreaties to "speak once more;" and before the sympathizing inmates of +the stricken house could remove him to his bed, he had breathed his +last. + +"Beaten to a jelly," sententiously remarked one of the men, under his +breath, to another, as they left the chamber to the sisters and the more +intimate friends of the family. + +"Some woman scrape--you can bet on that," was the response. And they +joined the others in their efforts to discover the perpetrators of the +dastard deed. + +But no clue was found, and after a while San Francisco forgot the +sisters and their sorrow; and one day, when the neighbor-lady told her +ever-fresh story to a new-made acquaintance, she added: "And now they +have gone, the poor girls, and nobody knows where." + + +From the balcony of the two-story frame hotel-building a young girl was +watching the sunlight sinking behind the dimly-outlined range of the +Coast Mountains. Perhaps her eyes roved so far away because the +immediate surrounding of the hotel was not attractive; though the +streets devoted to private residences of this little city--to which the +railroad was fast making its way--were pleasing to the eye, and rather +Southern in their features. The orange, ripening in one cluster with the +fragrant blossom, as well as the tall-growing oleander, embowering +cottage alike with mansion, spoke of oppressive weather in the summer, +and promised glorious, balmy days during the short California winter. + +Had the girl, at whose feet a large Newfoundland dog lay sleeping, +stepped to the end of the balcony which ran along the whole length of +the house, she could have followed the course of the Feather River, +which but a short distance away mingled its clear waters with the muddy +waves of the Yuba. But she was evidently not engaged in a study of the +"lay of the land," though her eyes seemed to follow with some interest +the direction of a particular road leading to the hotel. Directly she +spoke to the dog, touching him lightly with her toe: "Cruiser, old dog, +come, wake up, they are coming." + +From out of the cloud of dust rolling up to the hotel emerged hacks and +stages well filled with passengers, whom the railroad had brought from +San Francisco to Yuba City, and who thus continued to this place and +onward. Partly sheltered from sight by the boughs of a tree shading the +balcony, the young girl leaned forward to scan the faces of the people +who left hacks and coaches and hastened into the house to brush and wash +off a little of the biting, yellowish dust clinging to them. It seemed +to be a sort of pastime with the girl and her four-footed companion, +this "seeing the people get in;" for she made remarks and observations +on the looks and manners of people which the dog seemed fully to +understand, for he would reply, sometimes with a wag of his bushy tail, +sometimes with a short, sharp bark, and then again with a long yawn of +_ennui_. Almost the last passenger who alighted was a gentleman whose +large black eyes and raven hair would have thrilled the bosom of any +miss of sixteen--as, indeed, they startled our young friend, although +she might have been two or three years above and beyond that interesting +age. The bough that she had drawn down to screen herself behind, sprang +up with a sudden snap, which caused the upturning of a pale and rather +severe face, from which looked those black eyes with a grave, rather +than sad, expression. A sudden thought or memory--she did not know +which--shot through her brain as her eyes looked down into his; it was +only a flash, but it made her think of her childhood, of her mother--she +hardly knew of what. + +"Cruiser, old dog," she said; but the dog had squeezed his head under +the railing as far as he could get it, as if making a desperate attempt +to get a nearer look at the stranger. When he drew his head back he +raised himself, laid his forepaws on the railing, and looked hard into +the girl's face, with a low, questioning whine. "It's nothing, old boy; +you don't know him. Come, now, we'll see if we can help Julia about the +house." + +Down at the bar, mine host of the "Eagle Exchange" was welcoming his +guests, nerving himself to this task with frequent libations, offered by +the fancy bartender, and paid for by such of his guests as had made the +"Exchange" their stopping-place before, and knew of the landlord's +weakness. Stepping from the bar-room into the reading-room, to look for +any stray guest who might have failed to offer at the shrine, he met the +dark-eyed stranger face to face, and recoiled, either from some sudden +surprise or the effects of deep potations, steadying himself against the +door-frame as he reeled. The stranger, continuing on his way to the +staircase, seemed hardly to notice him, involuntarily turning his head +away as if unwilling to view so fair-looking a specimen of humanity +degrading himself to the level of the brute. + +Later at night we find our young friend, together with her older sister, +in the family sitting-room of the hotel. Annie, the younger, is softly +stroking the sister's hair as though she were the elder, endeavoring to +comfort a fretting, troubled child. No word was spoken until the +husband-landlord entered the room. Julia gave a nervous start, while +Annie touched her gently and soothingly on the shoulder. Mr. Davison +was a great deal soberer than could be expected; and his wife gave a +sigh of relief when she found that he was only maudlin drunk. + +"Ah, there you are, both together again--as affectionate a pair of +sisters as ever I see. Well, well, Julia, girl, maybe I ain't made you +as good a husband as you deserve to have, but I'll see that our little +sister there is well provided for. By-the-by, Annie, when Tom Montrie +comes down from the mountains he'll find good sport: one of the nicest +fellows you ever saw has come down from San Francisco, and I'll try to +get him to spend at least part of the winter with us. Oh, he's on the +sport," in answer to an anxious look from Julia, "but he's a mighty +clever fellow--genteel, and all that sort of thing. Tom's made a pretty +good stake again this summer, I know; and it'll be a good plan to keep +him well entertained while Annie is away teaching the ragged young +one--for I suppose she'll insist on keeping on in that stupid school, +when she might just as well marry Tom at once and set herself and her +poor relations up in the world." + +The girl had listened in silence to this long tirade, a burning spot on +each cheek alone showing that she heard at all what was said. It was +Julia's turn to be elder sister now. + +"Annie," she said, "I forgot to tell Peter that he had better use more +yeast for the muffins he sets to-night; will you please to tell him so +as you go up-stairs?" Drawing her fingers through Annie's curly brown +hair, and looking affectionately into her deep hazel eyes, she kissed +her good-night; and the sister silently departed, followed up-stairs by +Cruiser, who kept watch through the night on his rug outside her door. + +To discover the cause of Mr. Davison's unusual sobriety we must go back +for an hour or two. When night had set in, the stranger from San +Francisco, who had registered his name as J. B. Peyton, was promenading +on the porch in front of the hotel, quietly smoking his Havana and +thoughtfully regarding the stars. Presently the host opened the door of +the reading-room, stepped out on the porch, and closed it behind him +again, as though to keep the chilly autumn air from striking the inmates +of the room. Approaching the stranger, he eyed him as keenly as his +somewhat dimmed vision, aided by the sickly light of a pale young moon, +would permit, and then exclaimed, in a tone intended to be cordial: + +"It's you, by ----, it is! Give us your hand, and tell us how you are +and how the rest of them have fared." + +The stranger, in a voice which, like his eyes, was grave rather than +sad, replied, somewhat stiffly: + +"I am quite well, as you see; whom else you are inquiring for, I don't +know." Then, warming up suddenly, he went on, in a tone of bitter +reproach: "And you have married one of these poor girls? You should not +have done it had I known of it, depend on it." + +"Well, well, wasn't that the best I could do for them?" In his tone +bravado and reason were struggling for the mastery. "To be sure," he +continued, quailing before the flashing eye of his companion, "I have +not had much luck of late; everything seems going against me--I am +almost ruined." + +"You have ruined yourself. Why should _you_ have luck?" He was silent a +moment, busying himself with his cigar; then he continued; "Where is +Celeste? What became of her?" + +"Curse the ungrateful, perjured wretch!" answered the other, grinding +his teeth with sudden rage; "when my luck first turned she went off, +mind you, with a ship-captain, to China. She knew she could never live +where I was. I'd--" + +"Do with her as you did with--" + +"Hush!" whispered the shivering host; "don't speak so loud! Wasn't there +something stirring in the tree there?" And, like Macbeth seeing Banquo's +ghost, he started backward to the well-lit room. + +It is generally accepted that life in California, particularly in +earlier days, was full of excitement and change, every day bringing with +it some horrible occurrence or startling event. Perhaps, at the date of +my story--about 1860--this excitement had somewhat cooled down; or +perhaps it was the life of our young friend only that had flowed along +so evenly while at this place. The "horrible occurrence" of her day was +the ever-recurring period of her brother-in-law's intoxication, +sometimes maudlin, sometimes violent, but always fraught with bitterness +and sorrow to her on account of her gentle, long-suffering sister. The +"startling event" was the coming in of the hacks and coaches from the +railroad terminus, which she watched, half-hidden by the tree, and +together with her almost inseparable companion, Cruiser, just as she had +done that day when Mr. Peyton made his first appearance at this place. +Perhaps her interest in the arrivals was even greater now than it had +been before. Often, when about to turn from her post of observation, a +pair of grave black eyes, upturned from the porch below, seemed asking a +question of her that she vainly puzzled her brain to understand. Once or +twice she had started to go to her sister's room at such times, trying +to frame the question she seemed to read in the stranger's eye. But the +question remained unframed and unanswered; and day after day Annie +taught her little pupils at school, came home and helped Julia about the +house, and in the evening encountered the sphinx that baffled all her +dreamy speculations. + +It had been a matter of displeasure to her brother-in-law for some time +that the arrival of the stage from Laporte was not noticed by Annie with +the same degree of interest as the coming-in of the passengers from the +opposite direction. + +"Tom'll be coming some day," he said, grumblingly, to his wife, "and +that fine sister of yours will take no more notice of his arrival than +if a Chinaman had come!" + +And so it proved. One morning as Annie, followed by Cruiser with the +lunch-basket, was descending the front steps of the hotel porch, Mr. +Davison hastened to block up her road with his portly figure. + +"Annie," he spoke majestically, "how often must I tell you that I cannot +allow my sister-in-law to plod over to that school-house and bother with +those dirty urchins any more? Let them find some one else, for you will +not teach there much longer. Come, Cruiser, give us the basket! Annie'll +stay at home to-day, at least." + +"Don't trouble Cruiser unnecessarily," replied Annie, laughing +pleasantly; "I haven't fallen heir to any fortune of late, that I am +aware of, and until I do, I'm afraid that both I and Cruiser will have +to follow our old vocation." + +"You know that a fortune awaits you, Annie," was the persuasive +response, "if you would only stretch out your hand for it. How will Tom +receive the information, when he gets up this morning, that you have not +paid him the attention to remain home for one day, at least?" + +"I hope you will not conceal from Mr. Montrie that it is a matter of the +utmost indifference to me how he receives the information." + +"Your sister will talk to you about this matter," blustered the man. "A +girl like you to throw away her chances!" + +"I will listen patiently to anything my sister may have to say to me." +And Annie, turning, was almost confronted by Mr. Peyton, coming in from +an early walk. He lifted his hat with something like reverence, and drew +aside to let the girl and her four-footed companion pass. + +She did listen patiently to what her sister said to her that evening in +the little family sitting-room just back of the ladies'-parlor, on the +ground floor. One door of this room opened out on a porch, on the other +side of which rose the blank wall of another apartment, built of frame, +with only one window looking out towards the street, and the door +opposite this window. Between this and the bar-room lay dining-room, +pantry, and kitchen; so that no one from the bar-room, which lay back of +the reading-room, on the other side of the entrance hall, could see this +room with the single door and window. + +In California parlance, "the tiger" was kept in this room. If we could +have looked into this gaily-furnished apartment about the time Annie was +on her way to her room, having left her sister's presence with +tear-stained eyes, we should have beheld Mr. Peyton's pale, clear-cut +face bending over a table, around which a number of men were seated. The +various accoutrements of the game spread out before him, denoted that +this man, with the well-modulated musical voice, with the soft, grave +expression of countenance, with the quiet, gentlemanly bearing, was "the +owner of the tiger." + +The individual occupying the seat just across from Mr. Peyton was his +opposite in every respect. A tall, broad-shouldered mountain-man, whose +rusty beard and careless dress showed that, while "making his stake" in +the mountains, he had bestowed but little attention on his personal +appearance. No one could have disputed his claims to good looks, though +his glittering eyes seemed small, and were certainly too deep-set; and +when he laughed, the long white teeth gave a kind of hyena-look to the +whole face. Large hands, always twitching, and clumsy feet, forever +shuffling, gave him the appearance of a bear restlessly walking the +length of his chain. Altogether, in looks and bearing, he contrasted +unfavorably with Mr. Peyton; the one, smooth and polished as ivory; the +other, rough and uncouth as the grizzly of his mountain home. + +But Mr. Davison, who had softly opened the door, and stood silently +regarding him a moment, seemed fairly in love with Mr. Montrie's broad +shoulders and matted hair--so gently did he touch the one, and stroke +the other, as he whispered into the ample ear something which caused +the small eyes to flicker with satisfaction and delight. Then, moving +around the table to where Mr. Peyton sat, he laid his hand on this +gentleman's shoulder, but much more timidly, though the faro-dealer +looked delicate, almost effeminate, compared to the huge proportions of +the man from the mountains. + +"Jim--" he said, but corrected himself--"Mr. Peyton!" in an audible +whisper, "I don't want you to be hard on that man yonder; he'll soon be +one of the family, you know." + +The information was given with many winks and nods and leers, such as +men in the first stages of intoxication are generally prolific of. + +A single keen glance from the eagle-eyes of the gambler was sent across +to where the man from the mountains sat; but it sank to the depths of +the man's heart, and went searching through every corner. The next +moment Mr. Peyton was deeply engrossed in the "lay-out" before him. + +It was long after midnight before "the tiger" was left to darkness and +solitude in the little room at the rear of the "Eagle Exchange." In the +course of the following morning, when Mr. Davison's brain was pretty +well cleared of the fumes of last night's potations, and before the +early-morning drams had yet materially affected it, he was made uneasy +by the approach of Mr. Peyton, of whom he stood in unaccountable dread. + +"Have a cigar, Henry?" Mr. Peyton extended one of the choice kind he +always smoked himself; and then, by a motion of the hand, commanded the +now thoroughly sobered man into a chair beside his own. The reading-room +was deserted, and the paper Mr. Peyton had picked up was carelessly held +so that the fancy bar-keeper, who was twirling his elegant black +moustache, could not see his lips move. + +"Henry," Mr. Peyton began, without further preliminaries, "if you allow +that man from the mountains to press his attentions on your +sister-in-law against her wishes, I'll break every bone in your body." + +The threat seemed almost ridiculous from the delicate, white-fingered +stranger to this burly, overgrown piece of humanity; yet Mr. Davison did +not consider it so, for he answered, with pleading voice and cringing +manner: + +"But if he is to marry her--" + +"Marry her!" repeated the gambler, while a flash, such as the gate of +hell might emit were it opened for a moment, shot from his eyes; "I +would kill him first; yes, and tell the girl who it was that--" + +"And send them both out on the world again, to work hard for their +bread, as I found them?" + +"Better that a thousand times than that Annie should be made miserable, +like her sister, by being tied to a worthless sot, or a heartless +desperado." + +"You're hard on me, Jim," whined the other. "If the girl marries this +man, a part of his money will go towards paying off my debts, and +setting me straight again in this house. He'll be good to her; and +what's the harm to anybody? You don't want the girl--I know your queer +notions of honor." + +"Hush!" He sprang to his feet, and for the first time his voice +thrilled, and a quick flush darkened his brow. "Not another word; but so +sure as you drive the girl to this step, so sure will I tell her sister +who you are." His figure appeared tall as he moved away, and his +shoulders looked broad and strong as those of the man whom he left +cowering in his chair behind him. + +This interview over, Mr. Peyton seemed utterly oblivious of the +existence of the family at the "Eagle Exchange." Mr. Davison said to +himself, with an inward chuckle, that he had "gotten round Jim before, +in spite of his keen eyes, and was likely to do so again;" while Annie, +still and white, looked like a bird wearied out with being chased, and +ready to fall into the snarer's net. Once or twice, in meeting Mr. +Peyton, it seemed to him that her hazel eyes were raised to his, with a +mute appeal in them; and at such times he lifted his hand hastily to his +forehead, where a heavy strand of the raven hair fell rather low into +it, near the right temple, as if to assure himself of the perfect +arrangement of his hair. + +But in spite of all of Mr. Davison's cunning and contriving, Mr. Montrie +evidently made slow progress in his suit; for his visits to "the tiger" +grew longer and more frequent; and soon it came to be the order of the +day that the afternoons, as well as the nights, were spent in the little +room across the porch. A number of new arrivals from the various +mining-camps in the mountains lent additional interest to the games; and +bets were higher, and sittings longer, day after day. It was impossible +to tell from Mr. Peyton's unchanging face whether luck had been with him +or against him; but Mr. Montrie seemed all of a sudden elated, either +with the winnings he had made off "the tiger," or the success he had met +with in another quarter. Whichever it might be, Mr. Peyton, coming +unexpectedly upon him, as he sat in close consultation with Mr. Davison +one morning, could not have heard the mountain-man's invitation to drink +to his luck, for he passed straight on without heeding the invitation. +Mr. Davison quaked a little before the sharp glance thrown over to him; +"but then," he consoled himself, "d---- it, Jim is such a curious +mortal, and, like as not, he's forgotten all about it; he don't care for +the girl, no how." + +The afternoon saw them again gathered around "the tiger," the man from +the mountains betting with a kind of savage recklessness that boded no +good to those who knew him well. He had not forgotten the slight Mr. +Peyton had put on him in the morning, according to his code of honor, +but was casting about in his mind for some manner in which to express +his indignation. + +"What do you want to be quarrelling to-day for, Tom?" asked a +lately-arrived mountain-friend of him. "I see that gal of your'n this +morning; took a good look at her when she went to school; and, bless my +stars, if you don't know better than to grumble all the while on the +very day when--" + +"Your interest in the game seems to be flagging, gentlemen," came Mr. +Peyton's voice across the table, with a somewhat hasty utterance; "shall +we close?" + +An energetic negative from the rest of the company decided the question; +but Mr. Montrie, determined to play marplot, said: + +"For my part, I'm tired of buckin' agin 'the tiger.' 'Pears to me a game +of poker might be healthy for a change." + +Without losing a word, Mr. Peyton gathered up the faro-kit before him, +and laid cards on the table. Mr. Montrie's friend, a slow-spoken, +easy-going man, called Nimble Bill, was seated at the right of this +gentleman, across from Mr. Peyton's accustomed seat at the table; while +beside Mr. Peyton sat two or three others, who had "come down in the +same batch" with Mr. Montrie's friend. + +The game progressed quietly for some time, Mr. Montrie alone manifesting +uneasiness by frequently consulting his watch and casting longing +glances through the window. + +"Tom, old fellow, I believe you're regularly 'struck' at last," laughed +his friend. "It's mighty nigh time for that school to let out, I know; +so we'll let you off easy, and say no more about it; ha, ha, ha!" and he +turned for approval to the snickering men at the table. + +Just then Mr. Peyton raised his hand quickly to his head, and the light +from the diamond on his finger flashed directly into the man's eyes. + +"By-the-by, that's a mighty fine diamond you've got; I shouldn't mind +getting one to present to Tom's wife when he gets married. Now, what +mought be about the price of one like that, Mr.--what did you say the +gentleman's name was?" and he turned to his friend's working face. + +"'Poker-Jim,' I should say," shouted the angered man, "from the way he's +been handling them cards this afternoon." + +There was a hasty movement among those present; the motion of Mr. +Peyton's hand, as he threw it quickly behind him, was but too well +understood by all, and hurried steps rushed toward the door. When the +smoke had almost cleared away he was almost alone with his victim; only +the friend, against whom the dying man had fallen, was in the room +beside him. But from the outside approached heavy steps, while a shrill +female voice sent shriek after shriek through the house. Mr. Davison's +ashy face appeared at the door: + +"Oh, Jim! what have you done? Let's lay him down here easy, Bill; and +now run for the doctor, quick; and tell the other fellows to keep still, +if they can." + +"Go to your wife, Henry," ordered Mr. Peyton, with extended hand; "the +poor thing is in hysterics." + +A look into the gambler's face told the man he must obey; but in his +perturbation, he did not see the white figure that glided by him into +the room. + +"Why did you do it?" asked the girl, wringing her hands, but looking +into _his_ eyes without a glance at the prostrate body. + +"I had to kill the brute to keep him from marrying you, Annie. How could +I let you fall into his hands--you, the daughter of the woman who +sheltered me and gave me a home, when, a poor deserted boy, I lay +bleeding from a brutal blow on the street. Annie, do you not know me?" +He raised the strand of hair that always lay low on his forehead, and a +deep scar appeared under it. + +"Jimmy!" she cried, between surprise and joy. "But, oh!" she continued, +sadly, "I have found you but to lose you again. You must go, quick, +before they can send the sheriff or the doctor." + +"We must part; yes, and perhaps never meet again on earth. But, ere we +part, I must give your heart another wound. Your brother--it was I +who--" + +"Murdered him!" shrieked the girl. "Cruiser!" she called, wildly; and +the faithful animal, as if knowing the import of the conversation in the +room, threw himself with a fierce, yelping bark against the door. + +"Hold!" and he caught the girl as she sprang to open it. "Hear me out, +while I have yet time to speak. It was I who brought him home, so that +he might sleep quietly in the church-yard, instead of finding a grave at +the bottom of the Bay. Ask Henry who killed him; ask him whether +'Celeste' was worth the blood of the poor boy, and he will not refuse to +tell the truth." + +At the door Cruiser was scratching and whining, accompanying the man's +hurried words with a weird, uncanny music; and now he howled again as he +had howled on the night of poor Ned's death. + +"Farewell, Annie; your sister and that dog will soon be the only friends +you have. I can neither claim you nor protect you. Farewell; be happy if +you can, and--forget me." + +"Never! never!" sobbed the girl. + +A hand, softer even than her own, was passed tenderly through her hair +and over her brow; a single kiss was breathed on her lips, and the next +moment she was alone, the dog, her sole friend, crouching, with every +demonstration of devotion and affection, at her feet. + + + + +_THE TRAGEDY AT MOHAWK STATION._ + + +We called it our noon-camp, though it was really not after ten o'clock +in the morning. Ours was the only ambulance in the "outfit," though +there were some three or four officers besides the captain. The captain +had been ordered to report at head-quarters in San Francisco before +going East, and was travelling through Arizona as fast as Uncle Sam's +mules could carry him, in order to catch the steamer that was to leave +the Pacific coast at the end of the month. It is just a year ago, and +the Pacific Railroad was not yet completed; which accounts for the +captain's haste to reach the steamer. + +When we made noon-camp at the Government forage-station called +Stanwick's Ranch, we had already performed an ordinary day's march; but +we were to accomplish twenty-five miles more before pitching our tent +(literally) at Mohawk Station for the night. These "stations" are not +settlements, but only stopping-places, where Government teamsters draw +forage for their mules, and where water is to be had;--the +station-keepers sometimes seeing no one the whole year round except the +Government and merchant trains passing along _en route_ to Tucson or +other military posts. + +Lunch had been despatched, and I was lounging, with a book in my hand, +on the seat of the ambulance,--one of those uncomfortable affairs called +"dead-carts," with two seats running the entire length of the +vehicle,--when the captain put his head in to say that there was an +American woman at the station. White representatives of my sex are "few +and far between" in Arizona, and I had made up my mind to go into the +house and speak to this one, even before the captain had added: + +"It is the woman from Mohawk Station." + +The captain assisted me out of the ambulance, and we walked toward the +house together. The front room of the flat _adobe_ building was +bar-room, store, office, parlor; the back room was kitchen, dining-room, +bed-room; and here we found "the woman of Mohawk Station." I entered the +back room, at the polite invitation of the station-keeper, with whom the +captain fell into conversation in the store or bar-room. + +The woman was young--not over twenty-five--and had been on the way from +Texas to California, with her husband and an ox-team, when Mr. +Hendricks, the man who kept the forage-station at Mohawk, found them +camped near the house one day, and induced them to stop with him. The +woman took charge of the household, and the man worked at cutting +firewood on the Gila and hauling it up to the house with the +station-keeper's two horses, or at any other job which Mr. Hendricks +might require of him. She had been a healthy, hearty woman when they +left Texas; but laboring through the hot, sandy deserts, suffering often +for water and sometimes for food, had considerably "shaken her," and she +was glad and willing to stop here, where both she and her husband could +earn money, and they wanted for neither water nor food--such as it is in +Arizona. It was hard to believe she had ever been a robust, fearless +woman, as she sat there cowering and shivering, and looking up at me +with eyes that seemed ready to start from their sockets with terror. + +"May I come in?" I asked, uncertain whether to venture closer to the +shrinking form. + +"Yes, yes," she said, breathing hard, and speaking very slowly. "Come +in. It'll do me good. You're the first woman I've seen since--since--" + +"Tell me all about it," I said, sitting down on the edge of the bed, as +familiarly as though I had been her intimate friend for years; "or will +it agitate you and make you sick?" + +"No," she made answer; "I am dying now, and I have often and often +wished I could see some woman and tell her the whole story before I die. +It almost chokes me sometimes because I can't speak about it; and yet I +always, always, think about it. I haven't seen any one but my husband +and the station-keeper these last three weeks--there is so little travel +now. + +"You see, one Saturday afternoon there were two Mexicans came up this +way from Sonora, and stopped at Mohawk Station to camp for the night. It +was a cold, rainy, blustering day, and the men tried to build their fire +against the wall of the house. It was the only way they could shelter +themselves from the wind and rain, as Mr. Hendricks would not allow them +to come into the house. Pretty soon Mr. Hendricks drove them off, though +they pleaded hard to stay; and Colonel B., who had arrived in the +meantime, on his way to Tucson, told Mr. Hendricks that, if he knew +anything about Mexicans, those two would come back to take revenge. +Perhaps Mr. Hendricks himself was afraid of it, as he picketed his two +horses out between the colonel's tent and the house, for fear the +Mexicans might come in the night to drive them off. But they did not +return till Sunday afternoon, when, after considerable wrangling, Mr. +Hendricks engaged them both to work for him. The colonel had pulled up +stakes and had gone on his way to Tucson Sunday morning, so that we were +alone with the Mexicans during the night. But they behaved themselves +like sober, steady men; and the next morning they and my husband went +down to the river, some three miles away, to cut wood, which they were +to haul up with the team later in the day. Have you been at Mohawk +Station, and do you know how the house is built?" she asked, +interrupting herself. + +"We camped there on our way out," I said; "and I remember that an open +corridor runs through the whole length of the house, and some two or +three rooms open into each other on either side." + +"Very well; you remember the kitchen is the last room on the left of the +corridor, while the store-room and bar is the first room to the right. +Back of this is the little room in which Mr. Hendricks's bed stood, just +under the window; and opposite to this room, next to the kitchen, is the +dining-room. + +"It was still early in the day, and I was busy in the kitchen, when I +heard a shot fired in the front part of the house; but as it was nothing +unusual for Mr. Hendricks to fire at rabbits or _coyotes_ from the door +of the bar-room, I thought nothing of it, till I saw the two Mexicans, +some time after, mounted on Mr. Hendricks's horses, riding off over +toward the mountains. When I first saw them, I thought they might be +going to take the horses down to the river; but then, I said to myself, +the Gila don't run along by the mountains. All at once a dreadful +thought flashed through my head, and I began to tremble so that I could +hardly stand on my feet. I crept into the corridor on tip-toe, and went +into the bar-room from the outside. From the bar-room I could look on +Mr. Hendricks's bed. He was lying across the bed, with his head just +under the window. I wanted to wake him up, to tell him that the Mexicans +were making off with his horses, but somehow I was afraid to call out or +to go up to him; so I crept around to the outside of the house till I +got to the window, and then looked in. Oh, dear! oh, dear! I can't +forget the dreadful, stony eyes that glared at me from the bruised and +blood-stained face; and after one look, I turned and ran as fast as I +could. Perhaps I ought to have gone into the house, to see if he were +really dead, or if I could help him or do anything for him; but I could +not. I ran and ran, always in the direction my husband had taken in the +morning. At one time I thought I heard some one running behind me, and +when I turned to look, the slippery sand under foot gave way, and I fell +headlong into a bed of cactus, tearing and scratching my face and hands +and arms; and when I got up again I thought some one was jumping out +from the verde-bushes, but it was only a rabbit running along. Before I +got many steps farther I slipped again, and something rattled and +wriggled right close by me. It was a rattlesnake, on which I had stepped +in my blindness. I ran on until I could not get my breath any more, and +staggered at every step; and just when I thought I must fall down and +die, I saw my husband coming toward me. He was coming home to see what +was keeping the Mexicans so long in bringing the horses down to the +river; and when I could get my breath, I told him what had happened. We +went back together, but I would not go into the house with him; so he +hid me in a thick verde-bush, behind some prickly-pears, and went in +alone. Directly he came back to me. He had found the corpse just as I +had described it. To all appearances, Mr. Hendricks had thrown himself +on the bed for a short nap, as the morning was very warm. The Mexicans +must have crept in on him, shot him with his own revolver, and then +beaten him over the head and face with a short heavy club that was found +on the bed beside him, all smeared with blood. + +"Then my husband said to me: 'Mary, you've got to stay here till I go to +Antelope Peak and bring up Johnson, the station-keeper. You can't go +with me, because it's full twenty-five miles, if not more, and you can't +walk twenty-five steps. But those Mexicans are going to come back while +I am gone--I know they are, because they haven't taken any plunder with +them yet. They'll hide the horses in the mountains, most likely, and +then go down to the river to look for me; and after that they'll come +back here, and they'll look for us high and low.' + +"I knew that what he said was true, every word of it; and the only +thing he could do was to find me a good hiding-place a good ways off +from the house, but still near enough for me to see the house, and the +window where the dead man lay. Well, first I watched David till out of +sight, and then I watched the window, and then I watched and peered and +looked on every side of me, till my eyes grew blind from the glaring sun +and the shining sand. + +"All at once I heard some voices; and I almost went into a fit when I +heard footsteps crunching nearer and nearer in the sand. They were the +Mexicans, sure enough, coming up from the river, and passing within a +few steps of my hiding-place. Both carried heavy cudgels, which they had +brought with them from where they had been cutting wood in the morning. +When they got near the house they stopped talking, and I saw them sneak +up to it, and then vanish around the corner, as though to visit the +kitchen first. A few minutes later I saw them come out of the bar-room, +and, oh, heavens! I saw they were trying to follow my husband's +footprints, that led directly to the verde-bush behind which I was +hiding; but the wind had been blowing, and it seemed hard for them to +follow the trail. Still they came nearer; and the terror and suspense, +and the sickening fear that came over me, when I saw them brandishing +their clubs and bringing them down occasionally on a clump of +verde-bushes, wellnigh took what little sense and breath I had left, and +I verily believe I should have screamed out in very horror, and so +brought their murderous clubs on my head at once, to make an end of my +misery, if I had had strength enough left to raise my voice. But I could +neither move nor utter a sound; I could only strain my eyes to look. +After a while they got tired of searching, and went back to the house, +where they stood at the window a moment to look in on the dead man, as +though to see if he had stirred; then they went in at the bar-room, and +came out directly, loaded with plunder. + +"One of the men carried both Mr. Hendricks's and my husband's rifle, +and the other had buckled on Mr. Hendricks's revolver. They had thrown +aside their _ponchos_, and one had on my husband's best coat, while the +other wore Mr. Hendricks's soldier-overcoat. Even the hat off the dead +man's head they had taken, and also, as was afterwards found, the black +silk handkerchief he had on his neck when they killed him. Again they +took their way over toward the mountains, and then everything around me +was deadly still. Oh, how I wished for a living, breathing thing to +speak to, then! I should not be the poor, half-demented creature that I +am to-day, if only a dog could have looked up at me, with kind, +affectionate gaze. But the half-open eyes of the man seemed staring at +me from the window, and I kept watching it, half thinking that the +dreadful, mangled face would thrust itself out. + +"By and by the _coyotes_, scenting the dead body in the house, came +stealthily from all sides, surrounding the house, and howling louder and +louder when they found that they were not received with their usual +greeting--a dose of powder and ball. At last one of them, bolder or +hungrier than the rest, made a leap to get up to the window; but just as +his fore-paw touched the window-sill something was hurled from the +window, which struck the wolf on the head and stampeded the whole +yelping pack. This was too much; and I must have fainted dead away, for +my husband said that when they found me I was as stiff and cold as the +corpse in the house. What I thought had been hurled from the window was +only a piece of a cracker-box, used as target, and put out of the way on +the broad _adobe_ window-sill, where the paw of the _coyote_ had touched +it and pulled it down over him. I would not go into the house, and as +Mr. Johnson thought it best to give information of what had happened at +Stanwick's Ranch, we all came down here together, and I have been here +ever since. My husband is waiting for a chance to go back to Texas. I +wish we could get back; for I don't want to be buried out here in the +sand, among the _coyotes_ and rattlesnakes, like poor Mr. Hendricks." + +The ambulance had been waiting at the door for me quite a while; so I +thanked the woman for "telling me all about it," and tried to say +something cheering to her. When I turned to leave the room she clutched +at my dress. + +"Stop," she said, nervously; "don't leave me here in the room alone;--I +can't bear to stay alone!" + +She followed me slowly into the bar-room, and when the man there went to +the ambulance to speak to the captain, she crept out after him and stood +in the sun till he returned. + +"The poor woman," said I, compassionately; "how I pity her!" + +"The poor woman," echoed the station-keeper; "those two Greasers have +killed her just as dead as if they had beaten her brains out on the +spot." + +The shades of night were already falling around Mohawk Station when we +reached it. It was quite a pretentious house, built of _adobe_, and +boasting of but one story, of course; but it is not every one in Arizona +who can build a house with four rooms,--if the doors _do_ consist of old +blankets, and the floor and ceiling, like the walls, of mud. + +A discharged soldier kept the station now--a large yellow dog his sole +companion. The man slept on the same bed that had borne Hendricks's +corpse, and the cudgel, with the murdered man's blood dried on it, was +lying at the foot of it. + +"And where is his grave?" I asked. + +The man's eye travelled slowly over the desolate landscape before us. +There were sand, verde, and cactus, on one side of us, and there were +sand, verde, and cactus, on the other. + +"Well, really now, I couldn't tell. You see, I wasn't here when they put +him in the ground, and I haven't thought of his grave since I come. Fact +is, I've got to keep my eyes open for live Greasers and Pache-Indians, +and don't get much time to hunt up dead folks's graves!" + + + + +_LONE LINDEN._ + + +"It is just the place for you; Clara will find it sufficiently romantic, +Miss Barbara can have Snowball and Kickup both with her, and you, dear +friend, will be pleased because the rest of us are." + +The letter was signed "Christine Ernst;" and Mrs. Wardor, when she had +finished reading, continued in her quiet, even tones: + +"What an unaccountable being she is; I thought her cold and unfeeling, +because she dismissed that fine young fellow so unceremoniously, when we +all thought her heart was bound up in him." + +"Ah, me!" sighed Clara, fair of face, blue-eyed, and with feathery curls +of the palest yellow. "How little we know of the sorrow that sits silent +in our neighbor's breast. The sentiment--" + +"Oh, bother sentiment!" broke in Miss Barbara, impetuously, flinging +back the heavy braids of unquestionably red hair that had strayed over +her shoulder. "Daisy, my snowball, imagine, if you can, a large lot, a +meadow, or paddock, or something with grass, for Kickup, you and me! Oh, +won't it be jolly, though?" And seizing the sweet Daisy, a squat, +broad-faced Indian girl, whom Barbara's father, an army contractor, had +picked up somewhere around Fort Yuma, they executed a species of +war-dance that sent chairs, crickets, and bouquet-stands flying, and +caused Mrs. Wardor and her other companion to exchange significant +head-shakings. + +Having suddenly loosed her hold of Daisy in the wildest of the dance, +and sent her spinning into the corner where her head struck the whatnot, +Miss Barbara approached the elder lady, panting, and with deep +contrition. + +"Forgive me, Aunt Wardor; I shan't forget my young-lady manners again +for a whole week. But it did seem such a relief, just the thought of +getting away from this cramped little house, and into the open air +again, that I could not help being rude to Lady Clara." She seized the +slender fingers of the young lady, in spite of the little spasmodic +motion with which they seemed to shrink from the hearty grasp. + +"But, Barbara," urged Mrs. Wardor, somewhat mollified by the +affectionate "Aunt," "when a girl of your age avers that she is a young +lady, how can she constantly forget herself, and act the child and the +romp again." + +A flush passed over the girl's face, a handsome face, full of life and +animation, which a few little freckles seemed really to finish off, as +she turned sharply from both, and seated herself in the most stately +manner at the grand piano, the recent birthday gift of her father. + +Barbara was his only daughter, "and he a widower," who was surprised one +day to find that she was receiving the marked attentions of a young +gentleman matrimonially inclined, at the springs where she was spending +her vacations, with all the assurance and matter-of-course air of a +"grown-up lady," when he had never dreamed but that she was only a +child. He thought to cut the matter short by returning her instantly to +the seminary; but soon learned from the conscientious lady at the head +of the establishment that the young gentleman was persistent in his +devotions, and Miss Barbara as persistent in breaking the rules of the +institution. Then he bethought him of a lady whose calm dignity and +quiet self-possession had always somewhat oppressed him when he had +occasionally met her in his wife's parlors, during that estimable +woman's life time. And recollecting how his wife had honestly lamented +that her daughter could not live under the influences of a cultivated +mind, and the refined manners which she, herself, did not possess, he +went boldly to Mrs. Wardor one day, and proposed that she should take +charge of the self-willed girl, who insisted on being treated with the +consideration due a young lady owning a declared, though forbidden +lover. To Mrs. Wardor the proposition was acceptable; some years before, +true to the "gambling instincts" of an old Californian, her husband had +staked his all on some favorite mining stock, and, after losing, had +taken his chances of striking something better in the next world, by +blowing his brains out when he found himself "on bedrock" in this. Like +a sensible woman, she had given up her elegant establishment without +grieving very much, had secured a smaller house, and thought herself +fortunate in finding a class of boarders who shocked neither her +sensitive nerves nor her fastidious taste. + +Among the very limited number was a young girl who had left the +Fatherland when quite young, and had been educated by an older brother, +since dead. Her love and talent for music, together with what she called +her Deutsche Geduld, had stood her in good stead, and Miss Ernst was now +considered one of the best music teachers on the Coast. + +When Barbara Farnsworth was placed in her charge, Mrs. Wardor felt +justified in restricting the number of her boarders to two, outside of +this young lady--so liberal were the terms Mr. Farnsworth urged upon +her. The one other boarder besides Miss Ernst, was the fair lady with +the golden curls, who had lost mother and husband within the year, but +found an ample fortune at her disposal on the death of the latter. The +mother had been Mrs. Wardor's most cherished friend, and the fittest +place for Lady Clare, as Miss Barbara called her, seemed Mrs. Wardor's +house. Here she had found already domiciled Miss Ernst, who, a few +months later, to the astonishment of everybody, left her home and the +city, in consequence of a quarrel with her betrothed, as he was +supposed to be by people who knew other people's business better than +their own. A close friendship had sprung up between the two young women, +and Clara, it was surmised, was the only one who knew of Miss Ernst's +reasons for the unlooked for departure, just as Miss Ernst was the only +one who knew much, or anything, of Clara Hildreth's "heart-sorrows." + +That she had had such sorrows, no one could doubt who looked into the +large blue eyes, with their melancholy expression, or noticed the droop +of the small, gracefully-poised head. It was not surprising that this +tender, clinging creature should miss the prop and staff afforded by the +resolute yet sympathetic nature of her friend; and when the letter came +suggesting that Mrs. Wardor spend the summer in San Jose, where +Christine could be one of her family again, the idea was seized upon +with avidity by all, and in three days' time, Miss Barbara had convinced +her father, Clara, and Mrs. Wardor, that the place Christine Ernst had +described was just the place for them. + +"Let's go at once," said Miss Barbara, late in the evening, with her +usual precipitation; but Mrs. Wardor quieted her by enumerating the +thousand and one things to be done before the removal could be +effected--first and foremost among which was the task of securing the +house before it could be moved into. + +It was decided that Mrs. Wardor and Clara should go to San Jose on the +next morning's train and return at night, leaving Miss Barbara to the +care of her "Indian maid" and the servants in the house. + +Arrived at the depot in San Jose, they found Christine, whose dark hair, +olive skin, and Roman features utterly belied her purely German descent. +She embraced Clara with the protecting air of an older sister; and +pressing Mrs. Wardor's hand, led them to the carriage awaiting them. + +"You have worked too hard, I fear, Christine," said Mrs. Wardor. "You +look tired and thin." + +"Not tired," was the answer, "but I am among strangers, and have so +missed my home. You know how we Germans cling to people we love." + +"Yes?" Perhaps Mrs. Wardor was thinking of the lover, discarded, among +strangers in a strange land. Clara held her friend's hand, and asked how +far they would have to go--she felt that Christine was pained. + +"Only a short way; but the owner of the place is a queer genius, a +German, like myself, with whom no one can live in peace, they say. But I +know we can, though he insists on occupying a little hut in one corner +of the grounds. Fifty people have wanted the place, but he has never +been in a humor to let it since the last occupant moved out. I mean to +bring the charms of his mother-tongue to bear upon him, though I know it +will make me hoarse for a week, more especially as he is slightly deaf." + +The carriage had stopped at the gate, and the three women made their way +through a well-kept garden to a little shanty they espied at the +farthest end of it. The dwelling-house itself consisted of a one-story +_adobe_, to which had been added, much later, a frame building of two +stories. The _adobe_ part of the building contained kitchen, breakfast +and sitting-room, from which a low bay-window reached out into the +garden, where flowers stole up almost to within the room, and the ivy, +mingling with the bright green of the climbing rose, reached upward to +soften the abrupt joining of the gray _adobe_ with the glaring white of +the frame portion. This, though the more stately part of the building, +had not the home-look of the _adobe_, around the flat roof of which ran +a low railing, making a balcony of it for the service of the new wing. + +"How happy we shall be here," exclaimed Clara, with genuine delight. At +this moment a strange figure, clad in loose garments, and with flowing +gray beard, deep-set eyes, and holding a long pipe in his mouth, came +into sight. Depositing the pipe carefully behind a garden vase, the man +advanced with dignified yet courteous bearing. He looked with the +questioning scrutiny peculiar to people hard of hearing, from one to the +other; but when Christine's words reached his dull ears at last, it was +to fair-faced Clara he turned inquiringly. + +"Wie sagten Sie, Fräulein? Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" + +Christine repeated her question, and he turned slowly toward her. "I +thought it was she who spoke the German," motioning toward Clara; "but I +like your looks, too," he continued, taking Christine's hand into his +with a sudden, fatherly impulse. "And you would come and live in my +house, lady," he said, addressing Mrs. Wardor in his German-English. +"Take care--I say it to you--take care. It is a lonely place, and makes +to be alone in the world every one who lives in it. See me, an old man, +alone--alone. It is a bad spell on the place; it will make you alone, +too." + +The three women exchanged glances. Alone? Whom had they belonging to +them? It was only their friendship for each other that made their +"alone" different from that of the old man before them. + +"And these flowers, so beautiful," he continued, "will you love them, +too? I will nurse them for you; but don't be afraid--the old man will +not be troublesome to you." He had misunderstood the movement among +them; they were only congratulating each other on having accomplished so +easily what Christine had been taught to look upon as a difficult task. +They hastened to assure him how glad they would always be to have him +with them; and he looked wistfully at Clara again, muttering, "Ah, I +thought she was the German." + +"There it is again," said Christine, turning to her; "I never try for a +beau but you coax him away from me with your blue eyes and yellow curls. +I shall act out my character of a dark Spanish beauty some day, and +leave you with a jewel-hilted dagger in your heart for luring my own +true love from his faith to me." + +They followed their guide to the other side of the house, where, near +his own cabin, arose a little knoll or mound, evidently artificial, +though not smoothly finished. A sparse growth of grass covered it, and +on one side there was a ragged depression, as though a tree might have +been torn from the soil at some past time. Just above this stood a +linden tree, lonely enough. There were no other trees on this side of +the house, though pepper, poplar, and cypress trees were distributed +with a good deal of taste through the rest of the grounds. + +"Lone linden," mused Clara; and though the words were spoken low, the +old man seemed to have read it from her lips. + +"The other people have called it so, and it seems right. The only one +left," he said, softly passing his hand over the bark of the tree. "You +would not think how many they were at one time; but they are all dead +and gone. My dear ones all lie buried here." + +"Here?" echoed Clara, touching the mound. + +"No, not the bodies, you know; es ist nur die Erinnerung," he turned to +Christine. She bowed her head silently, and with the deep +"verstandnissvolle" look of her honest eyes she had won the old man's +confidence forever. + +They turned back to the more cheerful part of the garden, trying to +shake off the gloom the linden with its deep shadow had thrown on them, +and Clara railed at her friend for looking solemn as an owl. "Not a line +of poetry have you quoted to-day--not a note have you sung." + +At the same time the old man was saying to Mrs. Wardor, "See, lady, all +these lilies, white as snow. At home, in Germany, they were my mother's +pet flowers, and I am keeping these to be planted on my grave." And +Christine stooping to break three of them, chanted dolefully-- + + + "'Drei Lilien, drei Lilien-- + Die pflanzt mir auf mein Grab.'" + + +"There"--she turned to Clara--"that's music for you." + +Right here, let me confide to the reader Christine's great failing--the +weak point in this strong nature. She had a queer habit of keeping up a +sort of running comment on any conversation that took place in her +presence--any occurrence that came under her observation; comment in the +shape of bits of poetry or song, that she sang softly to herself. But +she _could_ not sing--and that was the great failing. Think of a +music-teacher who could not, if life depended on it, sing a dozen notes +in the same key, but would drop lower and lower, "till her voice fell +clear into the cellar"--according to the girl's own statement. + +Mr. Muldweber seemed loath to part with his prospective tenants, but was +assured that the close of the week would find them at Lone Linden. When +they reached the depot, the train that was to take Mrs. Wardor and Clara +back to the city was ready, and Christine had only just time to +apostrophize Clara's eyes-- + + + "Lebt wohl ihr Augen, ihr schönen blauen," + + +before it started. + +On reaching home, Miss Barbara met them at the threshold, with flaming +cheeks and sparkling eyes. "Such a romp as I have had with Snowball," +she explained; and the Indian girl laughed like an imp of the devil. +Mrs. Wardor chided the young lady for romping, but Clara drew back from +the girl with an uncomfortable feeling. Clara's cheeks boasted but a +delicate pink tinge at best, and to-night, in the glare of the gas, +after the day's fatigue, she looked almost haggard beside the robust, +health-glowing girl. + +"How old are you, Lady Clare?" she asked in the course of the evening. + +"Twenty-two. Why?" + +"Oh, nothing; only when I get to be as old as you are I shall wear black +constantly, just as you do, particularly if I have lost all my color, +too." + +"A wise resolution. I never had your color, though. Neither my face nor +my hair was ever red--nor my mother's, before me. Perhaps she did not +stand over the hot fire as much as your mother did." + +"Yes--I know they say mother 'lived out' as cook when she first came to +California; but then--_she_ didn't have to marry to get a home." + +It was all out now; though the girl sent the shaft almost at random, it +had struck the sore spot. Clara had married for a home. Her mother had +expended her meagre fortune on Clara's education, never doubting that +the girl's loveliness would attract a goodly number of suitors, from +whom the most suitable, that is, the wealthiest, could be chosen. +Whether Clara was less worldly or more romantic--at any rate she lost +her heart to a young man in society, who was considered an ornament of +that society--though it would have puzzled a common mortal to discover +why. His upper lip boasted a full, silken moustache, and he could turn +over the music sheets, standing beside the young lady performing on the +piano, with unequalled grace; he sang a languid tenor, and could fasten +his eyes on a lady with a melting, melancholy look, as if sighing in his +heart, "could I but die for thee." + +It was what he spoke out aloud to Clara, when, after months of intimate +acquaintance, he understood that Clara's mother wanted to see her +daughter "settled." But he didn't die; he only bewailed his fate, his +inability to make her his cherished wife, and lay all the treasures of +the Golden State at her feet. To quote Christine's hard, unsympathetic +opinion, he was "a graceless monkey, a fortune hunter, without ambition +enough to try for a living for himself, let alone for the woman he +professed to adore." Amid tears and protestations of breaking hearts and +darkened lives they parted: Clara to give her hand, at her mother's +entreaties, to a man of great wealth and corresponding age and +respectability--her lover to continue his search for a wife who could +boast of money besides beauty and amiability. + +Miss Barbara's heart was good in the main, and she would not have hurt +Clara as she did had she not been wild with an excitement for which +there seemed no cause. She was heedless, to be sure; and her +temper--well, she had red hair. + +Only three days later, early in the morning, we see them all at the +depot, and comfortably seated in the cars--Mrs. Wardor, Clara, Barbara, +and Daisy--with Kickup aboard the train, but in a different car--Kickup +being only an Indian pony, and the shaggiest kind of one at that. Miss +Barbara and "her maid," as she grandly styled the moon-faced Indian +sometimes, sat behind Mrs. Wardor and Clara--Clara and Barbara each +sitting nearest the window. Clara in deepest black, with the delicate +flush on her face, looked, the most interesting of young widows, and +whenever she raised her dove-like eyes, was sure to encounter the gaze +of the many who stood outside. Just as the sharp click of the +starting-bell rang through the cars, Clara, looking up, caught sight of +a figure that caused her heart to beat full and fast. Yet her face grew +pale as she noted the form of which the words "an elegantly attired +gentleman" would, perhaps, give the best idea. + +He leaned against one of the wooden pillars supporting the depot roof, +with a dejected, melancholy air. Almost involuntarily Clara leaned +forward, but sank back the next moment, her face ablaze, her lips +trembling. The impish laugh of the Indian girl that had struck her so +unpleasantly on the night of her return from San Jose, again fell on her +ear, and Miss Barbara's irrepressible "te-he" mingled with it. Had she +then betrayed her heart's secret to these two foolish, giggling things? +Her cheeks burned with mortification, but in her heart there was a +strange gleam of happiness. He knew, then, that she was free; he had +heard of her leaving the city, and chose this delicate way of intimating +to her that.--Ah! well; she was still in deepest mourning, and must not +think--anything--for a while yet, at least. + +Mrs. Wardor, her mind filled with doubts and misgivings as to whether +she had brought just the things she wanted for the summer in San Jose, +had noticed nothing of the little episode, but catching sight of Clara's +face as they left the cars, she exclaimed, with genuine gladness in her +tone, "Why, Clara, I know this summer in the country will do you good; +your eyes are bright with anticipation!" + +Christine met them at the depot, and as the carriage rolled smoothly +toward their new home, she told them of what other arrangements she had +made with old Mr. Muldweber. He owned a horse of venerable age, which +could be driven by the most timid lady, and the old gentleman was +willing that they should use the horse, but, as of the garden, so he +wanted to take care of the animal, too. This was cheerfully agreed to, +and when she went on to say that she had hired a phæton--really quite a +stylish affair--Miss Barbara almost smothered her with kisses, which +would not have happened, by the by, if there had been any place for +Christine to hide in. + +At the gate stood Mr. Muldweber. "What a funny old man," laughed Miss +Barbara. "A patriarch," said Clara; but Christine declared, with more +than her usual energy, that no one should say anything disrespectful of +or to Mr. Muldweber in her presence. + +With chivalrous bearing he welcomed Mrs. Wardor to her new home, and +his address, delivered with true German earnestness, would have checked +Miss Barbara's mirth, even without Christine's warning; and Christine +herself could only repeat, as she kissed Clara's fair head, "Der Herr +segne Deinen Einzug." + +Then she led her up-stairs, where she had two rooms, opening into each +other, fitted up for Clara and herself, with windows reaching to the +floor leading to the balcony. The other window in Christine's room +looked toward the Coyote Hills, the corresponding window in Clara's room +disclosing a view of the Santa Cruz Mountains. + +"Now tell me what you have on your mind, little one," she said, drawing +Clara down by the window, and looking off toward the cool, deep shadows +of the redwoods on the mountain, she listened to blushing Clara's +recital of the morning's occurrence, while she hummed softly (ending +full three notes lower than she had commenced): + + + "I have gazed into the darkness-- + Seeking in the busy crowd + For a form once--" + + +"Perhaps I have done him wrong after all," she interrupted herself; and +aloud she said, cheerfully: "The name of this place will be changed +before we leave it, I know. But down there is Mr. Muldweber; I mean to +ask him about Lone Linden, and his singular fancy for that tree." She +knew Clara would be happier left alone to dream over the vision of the +morning, and her heart really went out in sympathy to this lonely old +man, who had such a longing, hungry look in his eyes as he stood with +his arm thrown around the lone linden, his other hand shading his eyes +while he peered down the road toward the town. + + + "No one hastens home at twilight, + Waiting for my hand to wave." + + +Christine's dreary singing would hardly have enlivened Mr. Muldweber's +spirits if he had heard it; but it ceased ere she came close up to him. +With his usual gallantry the old man spread his handkerchief on the +grass covering the broken mound for Christine to rest on, and before +darkness had spread over the plain and crept up to the mountain-tops, +she knew more of the old man's history--which was the history of the +linden tree--than she had ever expected to learn. He had learned to love +the girl during the few days that the fitting-up of the house had thrown +them together; and he could speak his mother tongue to her--he never +would have said so much in English. + +When he had left the mining-school at Freiberg in the Fatherland to come +to the great America, he had brought with him from the old _Edelhof_, +where he was born and raised, a handful of seed from the linden trees +that formed his favorite avenue. He meant to build up just such a place +in America, and he carried the linden seed with him through the United +States and then into Mexico, where his knowledge of scientific mining +was of more use at that time. Into Mexico he carried his bride, a young +German girl, whose parents had died on their way out from the +Fatherland, and who died herself of _Heimweh_, in the strange, wild land +to which her husband brought her. But she left him a son, to whom he +gave a new mother, a dark-eyed señorita from Durango. Then he drifted on +toward California, before it was California to us, and settled finally +in the Pueblo of San Jose, near the mission of Santa Clara, after it had +ceased to be a mission. Here he built the old _adobe_--a house quite +pretentious for those times, and he threw up the mound, smooth and +round, and discernible at some distance, and planted the linden seed he +had so carefully hoarded. But he did not sow the seed broadcast; it was +a tree for every member of the family--no more. As the señorita from +Durango had presented him with quite a little herd of Muldwebers, +however, he had begun to entertain hopes of growing something of a +forest in the valley, when the dark eyes of the señorita were closed one +dread night, and never opened again to the light of this world. + +The wealth she had brought him had weighed but little in her husband's +estimation; he had learned to admire her goodness of heart and nobility +of character. It was a heavy blow; but, strange to say, his heart almost +turned from her children at that time and clung again to the child of +his first love, the German girl who had died of being homesick. He grew +intolerant of Spanish, would not even speak English, but shut himself up +with his oldest son to teach him the language he had neglected for so +long. Then died the two sons of his Spanish wife, and, though he mourned +their loss, he drew still closer to his first-born. + +But he had conceived the singular fancy that the spirit of his dead +could not rest while their trees lived; and he cut them down, one by +one, with his own trembling hands, and, weeping, made a fire of their +straight trunks and graceful branches, and buried the ashes deep in the +earth. It was about this time that his German friends, of whom there +were now quite a number in San Jose, began to whisper among themselves +that Mr. Muldweber was getting very queer--eccentric, in fact--if not +worse than eccentric. His son, among the first pupils of Santa Clara +College, was brought home, and pursued his studies as mining engineer +under the guidance of his father, whose intellect and mental equilibrium +seemed perfectly restored, if they had ever been wavering. + +Then death ruthlessly deprived him of the last remaining child of the +Spanish woman--a daughter with eyes as dark as her mother's, and cherry +lips and dimpled cheeks; and he turned from his first-born and only +child now, shunning and avoiding him, as he had neglected all his other +children at one time. The boy, or rather young man--for he had passed +the age of twenty-one--bore his father's whim like the sensible fellow +he was, understanding well the grief, perhaps self-reproach, that was +preying on his parent's heart; and they lived on, apart, though under +the same roof. When he could no longer bear his father's coldness, +amounting almost to aversion, he left home, hoping that absence would +work a change. No letter was ever returned for the kindly-meant missives +sent by him, and when the thought of his father's growing age and +loneliness overcame his pride, and he returned, he found the homestead +let to strangers, and his father established in his little hut, more +unreasonable than ever. + +He tried by kindness to conquer the old man's injustice; but one day he +spoke such hard, cruel words to his son, that pride and manhood rebelled +against the indignity, and he left the old homestead forever, he said, +vowing to live, under a strange name, "where his father should never +hear of him again, living or dead." + +A shiver ran through the old man's frame; the day had gone to rest, and +the wind blew coldly through the branches of the lone tree above them; +but he would not listen to the girl's suggestion, of coming into the +house with her. + +"No!" he said, "I must speak of the wrong I did to the boy right here, +under his tree; he is not dead, I know--the spirit of his mother comes +here sometimes and tells me so. She had such blue eyes--like her that is +with you; but her heart was not strong like yours, either. You see," he +continued, "I was crazy then with grief and loneliness, and +self-reproaches, and I said to him, when he spoke kindly and cheerfully, +that he was the 'laughing heir,' waiting only for me to follow his +brothers, in order to lay claim to the riches that I hoped would be a +curse to him. Ah! I see his white face before me every night, and hear +his last words ringing through my head: 'So shall they be a curse to me +if ever thou seest me again. Leave thy wealth to strangers, old man, +thou hast no longer a son.'" + +He had arisen and stood erect, unconsciously giving a dramatic +representation. The hand he extended had grown firm, but his face +gleamed white and ghastly, through the falling gloom. Then the hand sank +powerless as he complained, "And he will keep his word--though he was so +good--my Rudolph." + +He looked up in sudden astonishment; Christine had laid her hand on his +shoulder and gazed eagerly into his face. "Rudolph," she repeated, and +her hands wrung wildly a moment, dropped by her side in a kind of quiet +despair. But the old man hardly noticed her. He stood on the mound +again, his form bent forward, as if to catch the first glimpse of any +who might be coming up the road, and he shook his head slowly as he +muttered to himself, "Er kommt nicht, er kommt noch immer nicht." +Christine held out her hand to him. "Come, let me lead you," she said; +but the old man did not understand all the words meant. + +Late at night, sitting by the open window, from where she could see his +domicile, she caught herself humming, + + + "'T is said that absence conquers love, + But, oh! believe it not." + + +And she stopped. She _was_ thinking of Rudolph. Yes, but she had fancied +at first that she was "singing out of his father's heart," not her own. +Poor Rudolph! Now she knew what had exiled him from his father's home, +and she, alas! had driven him from the new home he had meant to build +for himself. And she had thought herself right. A bankrupt suicide's +daughter, how could she, a German, with all the deep religious +prejudices of that people burnt into her soul, dream of becoming +anything more than a friend to the man she honored above all others? + +People said she had led him on, had jilted him, and he had left the +country. Could she recall him? And how? Yet she could not leave this +lonely old man to die, as he was surely dying, of the remorse in his +heart and the bitter regrets for his injustice to his son. + +No one, coming upon the family at the Lone Linden the very day after +their advent to the place, would have suspected them of being strangers +there. It was home to them at once. The garden, with its "two ornamental +palms," as Christine called them, its wealth of flowers and sparkling +fountain, lay all day in the laughing sunshine, and the beams that crept +in through the bay-window of the sitting-room played hide-and-seek amid +the ivy trailing its glossy leaves across the opposite wall. It was here +that Christine's piano stood, and as Miss Barbara always sought the more +gayly-furnished parlor as soon as her music-lesson was ended, so Clara +learned to despise that apartment, and spend much of her time in this +room. + +Toward sunset, when shadows grew heavier, and the evening breeze shook +the foliage, the broken mound with its single tree had always a dreary +look about it, and even Clara was moved into saying, "If Mr. Muldweber +should die, I would not dare come to this tree in the evening sun--it +would be haunted, I know. I should see the old gentleman or his wraith +standing there with his arm around the tree, and his other hand shading +his eye. How lonely he looks; is he waiting for any one, I wonder?" + +"Poor old man," said Christine, evasively, and she repeated, + + + "No one hastens home at twilight, + Waiting for my hand to wave." + + +"Stop, or I shall get the blues, too." Clara raised her hands to her +ears in comical despair, and Christine laughed good-naturedly at the +effect of her singing. + +So the pleasant, sunshiny days passed on, with no event more stirring +than an occasional letter from Miss Barbara's father to break the +monotony of life. + +It was Mr. Farnsworth's desire that Miss Barbara should be treated and +looked upon as a child, and it would have gladdened his heart could he +have seen her, in the cool of the morning or late in the afternoon, with +Snowball and Kickup in the enclosed lot called the Meadow, behind the +house. Whether it had ever been the intention of Mr. Farnsworth to have +Miss Barbara use the four-footed thing called Kickup as a saddle-horse +is not known; it is a matter of doubt, however, whether any one had ever +been on its back long enough to discover what was its best gait. To be +sure, Miss Barbara made it a point to require her "maid" to "ride around +the ring;" and she would urge the pony close up to the fence for this +purpose, assist Daisy to mount, and then give a jump to get out of reach +of Kickup's heels, for he had never been known to have more than two +feet on the ground when any one was on his back; indeed, as a general +thing, he never touched the ground again till his burden lay there too. +There was no more danger of injuring Snowball's limbs than the pony's, +and as they were taken both from the same tribe, back in Arizona +somewhere, it is to be presumed that they knew each other. But Miss +Barbara was neither cruel nor a coward. She never failed to reach +Kickup's back, and from there the ground again, sometime during the +day's performance, to Snowball's unbounded delight; and at night she +always complained to Mrs. Wardor that "her pony wasn't fairly broken +yet," "Which is not so surprising as that your bones are unbroken yet," +Christine would say sometimes; for which Miss Barbara would give her a +supercilious look out of her wide-open eyes, as though to say: "What do +you know about it? Your father was never an army contractor." + +About this time Mr. Farnsworth, in his letter to Mrs. Wardor, commenced +to promise a visit he intended making them before the summer was over; +and Mrs. Wardor commenced saying to Barbara, when she proved +particularly unmanageable, "Do try to behave like a lady, so that your +father may see you are no longer a child." And the suggestion always had +the desired effect for the time being; but the sight of Snowball driving +Kickup into the meadow would as regularly upset all her good intentions. + +One day Christine came into Clara's room, with a troubled look on her +face. "What is it?" asked Clara; "is your aged _protégé_ more depressed +than usual this morning? Has he refused to enjoy his long pipe, or has +he regaled you with a longer account than usual of his son--Hans, I +think, you said his name was?" + +Christine laughed in spite of herself. Clara had heard something of Mr. +Muldweber's trouble with his son, and took it for granted that Christine +knew all about it, though she had not the remotest idea of how deeply +she was interested; and one of Clara's fancies was that Mr. Muldweber's +son was a tow-headed youth, and his name was Hans. + +"Mrs. Wardor has had another letter from Mr. Farnsworth," said +Christine. + +"Again threatening a visit? But why should that make you look so +serious? Are you thinking of his displeasure at not finding his Barbara +an Arabella Goddard?" + +"Thank God, I never held out that prospect to him. No--" she continued, +absently; "I don't like his letters, and I fear Mrs. Wardor +misunderstands him--misunderstands him entirely. He inquires very +particularly for Lady Clare in his letters, too." + +"And not for you? Ah! then the cat's out of the bag," she laughed; "you +are jealous of me again." + +"The vanity of some people--" Christine joined in the laugh; but the +troubled look returned to her face as she went on. "That poor old man +troubles me too; he is failing fast, and his son must come soon, or I +fear he will never see him again." + +"Then why not send for him?" asked Clara, innocently; "or does he not +know where to find him?" + +"No," answered Christine, savagely, after a moment's hesitation. + +"Poor old man," sighed Clara; and she was careful after this to meet the +forlorn figure wandering restlessly through the grounds with all the +sweet consideration it was her nature to show those who were in pain or +trouble. + +Still the old man never spoke to her of his Rudolph as he did to +Christine; it was to the brave-hearted German girl he poured out his +long pent-up complaints and lamentations; it was only to her he revealed +how the yearning for his first-born was eating his heart away. Often she +was on the point of telling him all; he would say then, she thought, +that she had acted quite correctly; would commend her for not having +fastened herself with her accursed name upon a blameless man, with fame +and fortune before him. But he would still demand at her hands his +son--his son whom she, more than himself, had made an exile and a +wanderer. + +So the day passed on, and the cloud on the horizon of Lone Linden grew +darker and heavier; but no one saw it gathering save Christine. +Instinctively she felt that their fair Paradise would be destroyed when +the storm should burst, but she knew not how to divert the threatened +deluge. + +When Clara rushed into her arms one day, flushed and breathless, crying, +"Oh, I knew he loved me--I felt that he had never forgotten me," her +heart misgave her--the first harbinger of threatened desolation had +come. With difficulty she prevailed on Clara to tell her calmly what had +occurred, and, triumphant and happy, she explained that Mrs. Wardor had +received a letter from Mr. Farnsworth, to say that at the end of the +week he should visit Lone Linden, bringing with him young Mr. Heraclit +Gupton, nephew of General Gupton, commanding the Department of the +Pacific. + +"Poor, blind Mrs. Wardor," Clara went on to say, "saw nothing in this +but Mr. Farnsworth's desire to entertain a young gentleman whose uncle +had it in his power to award heavy army contracts; indeed, how could she +know that Heraclit Gupton was--was--" + + + "I have lived and loved--but that was to-day; + Go bring me my grave clothes to-morrow." + + +Christine filled up the pause, her voice more dreary and inclined to +"drop into the cellar" than ever. + +Clara looked sobered and disappointed at this unexpected comment, but +attributed it to a sudden recollection of Christine's own "what might +have been." + +"What makes you so sad, Christine? Is Mr. Muldweber really sinking as +fast as Mrs. Wardor thinks?" + +"Sinking fast, child; only the promise that his son shall be brought +here, if among the living, before the moon fades, has kept the old man +alive." + +"Oh! Christine, stay and be glad with me now," pleaded Clara, "the time +for mourning will come soon enough." + +But Christine could not be made to rejoice, and all the comment she made +on the other's enthusiasm was, + + + "Oh! Lady Clara Vere de Vere, + You put strange memories in my head." + + +And Clara flew up-stairs to dream over this broadening flood of sunshine +as she had dreamed over the first faint glinting. + +Had not Miss Barbara been strangely absent-minded about this time, she +must have observed how the color in Clara's cheek grew brighter, and her +eyes held a deeper, richer light. And if any expression so soft as a +"dreamy look" could ever have stolen into this positive young lady's +face, one would certainly have said it was there now, though it vanished +like a dream, too, whenever the Indian girl's impish laugh fell on her +ears. The Indian girl herself seemed to be the only member of the family +that was not more or less _distrait_ after the arrival of Mr. +Farnsworth's last letter, for even Kickup showed resentment at Miss +Barbara's sudden neglect of her "saddle horse." It was only natural that +Mrs. Wardor's mind should be on hospitable cares intent, which accounted +for her being oblivious to a good many things going on around her. + +Saturday had been named by Mr. Farnsworth as the day on which he was to +be expected, and as the members of the family arose from the +breakfast-table that morning, Miss Barbara astonished Mrs. Wardor by a +demand for her mother's diamonds, to wear in honor of her father's +coming. + +"Nonsense, child," said Mrs. Wardor; "what would the young gentleman +coming with your father think, to see a school-girl loaded down with +diamonds? Leave them in my trunk; they are better there. You might take +a notion to have a romp with Kickup before taking them off, and they +would be scattered in the meadow." + +But Miss Barbara was determined to carry her point, and broke out at +last, the rebellious blood rising to her head, "I think I should be +allowed to have them, at any rate; they are _my_ diamonds, and father +promised mother that they should never go to the second wife if he did +marry again." + +Mrs. Wardor's face flushed as red as Barbara's, but Christine's remained +unmoved, calmly marking the notes on a sheet of music, while Clara gave +one startled look, as though she had just made a discovery. + +Early in the afternoon Miss Barbara appeared in the garden, where the +hot sun blazed down on the fiery hair, the burning cheeks, and the +flashing jewels. Her eyes were hardly less sparkling than her diamonds, +and as she threw a searching look down the road and across the plain, +toward the town, they seemed to glitter and glint in all the colors of +the rainbow, just like the stones in her ears and at her throat. Later, +Clara came to the hall-door, but drew back when Barbara came to join +her; the girl's appearance gave her a "scorched" sensation, she said to +Christine, who seemed blind to the shadows that coming events were +casting before them. At least there was neither glad anticipation nor +nervous haste noticeable in her as in the rest, but her heart was very +heavy within her. Nevertheless she chided Clara for having dressed in +black after all, when she had firmly decided to wear white; and she +urged her back into the garden, for she knew her soul was flying across +the road to the city, to meet the form she had dreamed of day and night +since Mr. Farnsworth's announcement. + +The afternoon breeze was gently stirring the fragrant flower heads when +she entered the garden again and approached Miss Barbara, who had taken +up her station by the low picket fence where the ground rose above the +level of the road. Clara, too, sent out a wistful look across the plain. +Perhaps she had sighed, for she felt the girl's eyes on her, and as she +looked up, it came back to her painfully what Barbara had once said +about her lack of color. Could her heart be growing envious of the girl? +She did not ask herself the question, but she felt the impulse to turn +and leave her, and would have done so had not a start and flutter on the +girl's part told her that a vehicle was in sight. + +She did not look down the road; she would not betray her feelings to the +merciless eyes of this red-headed girl; but her own heart beat so that +Barbara's agitation entirely escaped her. She turned toward the house. +She _must_ press her hand to her heart to still the tumultuous beating. +On the balcony stood Christine, an affectionate smile lighting up the +dark features as she threw kisses to her and pointed to the light +carriage now quite near the gate. Then the color came back into Clara's +face, and, with a sudden joyous impulse, she fluttered her handkerchief +in the breeze, and laughed like a glad child reaching out its hand for +a long-coveted toy. Mrs. Wardor came to the door; the carriage stopped +at the gate that minute, and two gentlemen sprang to the ground. + +Just how it all took place, perhaps none of them ever knew--not even +Christine, who had remained on the balcony, a deeply-interested, though +not indelicate, spectator. They lingered in the garden a little while, +and before they entered the house Mr. Farnsworth had pompously announced +to Mrs. Wardor that this was the young gentleman who had so faithfully +and persistently paid court and attention to his daughter Barbara; that +he had at last been touched by his unwavering devotion, and had decided +to make his only child happy--as happy as he himself hoped to be some +day in the not distant future. + +"Bless your soul," he added, in an undertone, to Mrs. Wardor, who had +just had an unaccountable attack of heart-beating, "if I had known that +Barbara's 'young man' was General Gupton's nephew, she should have had +him six months ago, and welcome." He was interrupted by Barbara's asking +permission to go driving with her "young man," and, the father +consenting, they were soon speeding over the road in the light carriage +that had brought the gentlemen. + +At her window up-stairs sat Christine, her hands folded idly in her lap, +her eyes absently following the couple in the carriage. But on the bed, +in her own room, lay Clara, her head buried deep in the pillows, her +slender hands covering the white face, sobbing as if her heart would +break. And through the half-open door came the saddening chant of +Christine: + + + "I have just been learning the lesson of life, + The sad, sad lesson of loving." + + +Could the words but have penetrated to the room below, they might have +been echoed there by another. Mr. Farnsworth was again making an +announcement to Mrs. Wardor--though in a manner not quite so +pompous--indeed, almost hesitating. + +"Yes," he was saying, "my daughter cannot blame me, since I have made +her happy, that I too should look for a suitable companion. When I say +suitable, I mean one better fitted than the first Mrs. Farnsworth to +my--ahem!--to my--more advanced mental attainments. I have for some time +past observed the--ahem!--sweet disposition and--ahem!--amiable +character of your friend and _protégé_--Clara. Good gracious, madam, are +you sick? Can I do anything for you?" + +"No, thanks; only a sudden dizziness that sometimes seizes me in warm +weather;" and, thanks to Mrs. Wardor's self-possession, it was over +directly. As Mr. Farnsworth took it for granted that it was quite +essential for a fine lady to have nerves, and even fainting-fits, he saw +nothing remarkable in Mrs. Wardor's sudden dizziness and pallor. Then +she said Clara was one of the sweetest-tempered women she had ever met +with, but she knew nothing of the state of her heart or affections; he +must lay the case before the lady herself. And here she suddenly +remembered not to have given full directions for supper to the Chinaman +in the kitchen, and left Mr. Farnsworth to his own meditations in the +parlor. Then the sun went down, and Christine, paying no heed to the +sound of carriage-wheels approaching--thinking the happy lovers had +returned--was startled by the sharp ring of the door-bell. She sprang to +her feet; she felt that the bell called to her, and she was at the door +before the servant could reach it. A tall, bearded man stood before her, +who, taking advantage of the girl's being utterly disconcerted, drew her +quickly to his breast. She rested there only a moment. + +"Oh, Rudolph! your father," she said, with a tone of reproach in her +voice. + +"Take me to him, Christine," and Mrs. Wardor, who had drawn her head +back discreetly a moment before, now came fully out of her sitting-room +to welcome Rudolph to his home. + +"All the afternoon you left me by myself," said Mr. Muldweber, +querulously, as Christine softly entered his room. "Ah! if my boy would +only come, he would never let his old father lie here alone," and he +turned his head to the wall so as not to look at Christine. + +"Forgive me," she said; "but poor Clara so needed me. And I have brought +news from your son--from Rudolph. He is coming soon--he will be here--" + +"He is here now!" cried the old man, opening his arms, but turning his +eyes to the ceiling, as though he expected his Rudolph to flutter down +from there in the shape of a seraph or an angel. + +A few hours later Mr. Muldweber's room, which had seemed so lonesome in +the afternoon, was filled to its full capacity. The old man sat in his +easy-chair, holding one hand each of Rudolph and Christine in his own, +and near them were Mrs. Wardor and Clara. Her friend's happiness was a +consolation to her, so much so that she could think, without breaking +into tears, of the trio in the parlor of the other house, talking over +their plans for the future, just as our friends were doing here. + +Mr. Farnsworth intended going back to the city on the morrow, heavily +laden with "The Basket" (the German term for the mitten or the sack), +which Clara had given him. + +In Mr. Muldweber's shanty reigned a soft, subdued happiness, like the +half-sad light of the moon flooding in through the window. + +"It will be Lone Linden no longer," the old man said, "since I have so +large a family. See, I will not crowd you in the big house; I will stop +in my dear little hut. There will be only room enough in the other house +for Rudolph and his wife and her two sisters" (the old man was naturally +gallant), "whose knight I will be till some one worthier and better +shall fill my place. And the red-headed one will go next month?" he +asked, turning to Mrs. Wardor. With a sigh of relief he continued, "And +the black Kobold will go with her I hope, and the four-footed one too. +How they used to break my beautiful white lilies and throw them to that +animal. Ah! you cannot make me believe anything--if that horse were not +possessed by the evil one he never could have eaten those flowers--stem +and all." They could not help laughing, and parted almost merrily. + +But out in the garden, in the tender white moonlight, Rudolph drew +Christine close to his heart and looked searchingly into her eyes. + +"Are you at peace with yourself now, Christine, and satisfied to be +mine--satisfied and happy? Then why are those tears in your eyes?" + +She struggled out of his arms, and passing her hand over her eyes, she +fell irresistibly into her old habit, and sang, soft and low, + + + "Mag auch im Aug' die Thräne stehn-- + Das macht das frohe Wiedersehn." + + + + +_MANUELA._ + + +"Poor Mrs. Kennerly" was more lachrymose than usual to-day; her eyes +paler, her hair more faded. Paul Kennerly, the keen-eyed, robust +counterpart and husband of the lady, was measuring the room with +impatient steps. When her pale-blue eyes shed tears and grew paler, his +flashed fire and grew deeper blue; when her light-yellow hair hung limp +and loose about her eyes, his darker, heavier locks rose obstinately +from his forehead, and were shaken back, now and again, as a lion shakes +his mane. While the profuse tears coursing over his wife's cheeks seemed +to bleach their original pink into vapid whiteness, his own flushed hot +and red with the quick blood mounting into them. + +Yet, Mrs. Kennerly, of whom her friends spoke only with the adjective +"poor" prefixed, was not a martyr; on the contrary, to the unprejudiced +observer, the great tall man, in spite of flashing eye and reddened +cheek, appeared much more in that light and character. + +"Laura, _will_ you stop crying just for two seconds, and listen to what +I have to say?" + +"Oh, my poor sister! my poor sister! Coming home, and unwelcome in her +own dead father's house! unwelcome to her own brother-in-law, at the +house of her poor dead father--oh!" + +Before she had finished her lamentation, Mr. Kennerly had left the room, +shutting the door behind him with a crash, and crossing the corridor +with long, heavy strides. Then his steps resounded on the veranda, where +the June sun threw deepening shadows of the old locusts that stood +sentinel in a half circle on the lawn. Pacing back and forth, with knit +brows and downcast eyes, the wooing beauties of the summer day were lost +on him, as they were without charm or joy to the weak-minded woman +fretting and complaining in her darkened room up-stairs. + +Unnoticed by him was the short sweet grass on the lawn, and the rows of +blossoming lilacs and budding roses that hedged it in on either side, +down to the road; unheeded on his ear fell the gentle murmuring of the +wind in the cluster of poplar, beech, and elm that stood bowing and +swaying by the large old gate. Was it possible that he had ever pushed +through its portals (a wanderer returned to his early home), an +expectant bridegroom, to meet the meek-eyed bride whose phantom only +seemed now to haunt the old-fashioned, hospitable house? Again Paul +Kennerly threw back the hair from his forehead with the lion-like motion +that had grown more abrupt and hasty year after year. Then the footsteps +on the veranda ceased, and soon soft, full chords, such as a master-hand +only could strike on the piano, sounded through the wide corridor, and +floated up to the ears of the self-willed invalid. Louder and stronger +grew the strains; and the woman, in her feebleness, cowered on her +lounge up-stairs, and complained fretfully, "Now he storms again!" while +the man below seemed to have forgotten everything; his own existence, +perhaps--the existence of the woman, surely. + +Yet she was present to the waking dreams he dreamed of his early +youth--they could not be dreamed without her. She had been his playmate, +his _protégé_; as her younger, stronger sister had been his natural +antagonist and aversion. The father had been his guardian. And when Paul +went as sutler and trader to New Mexico, just as Laura was budding into +girlhood, it was tacitly understood that on his return he would claim +her as his betrothed. Years passed, and when old Mr. Taylor felt his end +approaching, he begged Paul to return, and be to his two daughters the +protector that he had been to Paul's helpless childhood. Soon after +Laura's marriage, Mr. Taylor died, firm in the belief that he had made a +happy man of his favorite, Paul. + +Before the mourning year was over, a schoolmate of Paul's, an army +officer, some years his senior, came to spend a month's furlough at the +old Taylor mansion. When he left, he was the willing slave and avowed +suitor of Regina, the queenly younger sister of Laura. If there were no +hearty congratulations from Paul's side, I doubt that either Colonel +Douglass, in his happiness, or Laura, in her self-absorption, felt the +withholding of his kind wishes; and Regina cared very little either for +his favor or his disapproval. + +Even before they were married, Regina knew that after a few short weeks +spent in the home-like, elegant quarters at the arsenal, they must leave +the ease and luxuries of civilization for the wilds of some frontier +country. But Regina was content to reign over the limited number of +hearts to be found in a frontier's camp, as she had reigned over her +train of admirers in the ball-room and at the watering-places; and, to +the delight of her husband, she uttered no word of complaint when an +order from the War Department sent them to an adobe-built fort on the +Rio Pecos, in the most desolate part of all New Mexico. + +"Now, I should like to go with you, Hal," had said his brother-in-law, +when he read him the order; and he raised his head and flung back his +hair, as though he felt the wild, free wind of the Plains tossing it. + +Paul rode back from the arsenal slowly that evening; and the nearer home +he came, the lower drooped his head, the darker grew his brow. At home +he paced the floor uneasily, paying little heed to the feeble whimpering +of his wife, who had been frittering her life away between +camphor-bottles and sentimental novels since Regina had left the house. + +The drawing-room, where the piano stood, and where the windows opened +out on the veranda and the lawn, was his harbor this night, as often +when either his own thoughts or the selfish complainings of his wife +drove him distractedly about the house. But this night there sounded a +single soft strain through his "storming,"--as his wife called it,--and +the strain grew wilder and sweeter, till suddenly lost, as the note of +some clear-voiced, frightened bird is lost in the howling of the +midnight storm. + +Then had come days of calm, during which the piano remained closed, and +he sat meekly under the drivelling talk of his wife, and in the close, +dark atmosphere which alone, she insisted, suited the delicate +complexion of her face and of her mind. + +After that, an occasional letter from his brother-in-law, now at his +station on the Rio Pecos, or an extra twist of the cord matrimonial, +which, since the day of his marriage, seemed literally to encircle his +neck, would set the lion to fuming in his cage; and, with the toss of +his hair from the forehead, would commence the wandering through the +house which always ended with "storming" the piano. + +But the days are passing while we travel back into the past; and one, +not far distant, brings Regina, the unwelcome. Before she had been in +the house many days, she knew from her sister's rambling talk what Paul +had said of her coming before she came--knew that he did not believe +what the colonel had written about the disastrous effects of the New +Mexican climate on his wife's health; but believed, rather, the rumors +that had come to him from all sides, each varying a little from the rest +in detail, but all agreeing in the main. Regina's marble face, and +nervous, transparent fingers, might have confirmed the theory of failing +health; but there was something in the momentary flash of her dark +eyes, as she listened to her sister's quavering voice, that told of +energy or despair, such as woman gains and gathers only from a sudden +calling forth of all her passions and powers for the defence of her +life, her honor, or position, as the case may be. It may have been only +once, in the long past, that this power was called out; but, like the +heat-lightning at the close of a hot, murky day, it throws baleful +gleams on the cloud-darkened horizon of her life forever after. + +"My sternly-virtuous moral brother-in-law," Regina said softly to +herself, seated on a low stool in the room where her cradle had stood, +"would fain drive me from my own father's house, for a fancied injury to +the fair name of the Kennerly-Taylor family. Ah, well! the end of all +days has not come yet." + +Her head sank on her bosom, as she sat watching the shadows of the +tree-clump by the gate, growing longer and deeper in the fading light of +the western sun; and a tear stole into her eye and trickled slowly down +her pure white cheek. Her sister, creeping up to her, and looking into +her face with what affection she was capable of, shed more of her +easy-coming tears. + +"I told him they were slandering you. Papa always said you were too +proud to do a wrong and not acknowledge it. And Paul was always hard on +you, I know; and it's all a lie and slander; for even if you were not my +sister, I could tell, as any one could, from your face, that you are +good and without sin. I know from the stories I have read--they all have +just such pale, faultless faces when they're persecuted; and afterwards +the misunderstanding is cleared up, and they get married. But then, you +_are_ married." She had gotten into deep water now; and thinking, +probably, that her younger, cleverer sister would solve this problem as +she had so many others, Laura picked up her camphor-bottle and returned +to her own room. Regina remained, her "pale, faultless face" turned to +the dying light, a pensive, half-pained, half-sad expression on her lips +and in her eye, looking almost like a saint striving to forgive and +bless her traducers. + +Yet the woman was not without sin; though how much was to be laid at her +door none could tell. + +Out in New Mexico, the rumor ran, at the lonely adobe-built post on the +Rio Pecos, where her husband, the colonel, was stationed, there was also +a post surgeon, a young, handsome man, of fascinating manners, of +unquestioned skill and bravery, and born of an Italian mother, from whom +he had inherited passion, temper, and disposition, together with +Southern eyes and curly, silken hair. His courage had probably come from +his American father; none but such could have a son who, in his +dare-devil bravery, would go so far as to capture and tame a young +panther, and chain him outside his door, to act as watch-dog and +protector. And so great was the love of this animal for his master, that +he was known to leap and roar for joy when seeing him approach after an +absence from home. + +Of course, Regina was expected to visit and admire the panther as a +"natural curiosity;" and her hand, too, it was said, the beast would +lick with every sign of affection and submission. Rumor said, that in +the dead of night, when no one else could approach the doctor's quarters +within a hundred yards, she could pass by and into the doctor's rooms +without hindrance or opposition from Royal, the panther. And, moreover, +rumor went on to say, that whenever the colonel was away on duty, +looking after those troublesome Navajoes and uncertain Apaches, Regina's +white robe was frequently seen flitting past the uncanny keeper of the +doctor's door. + +But there came a day--a night, rather--when Royal, after a short but +terrible conflict with a midnight invader, lay dead on his master's +doorsteps, and over the body strode the invader into the presence of the +young doctor, who, with an almost superhuman effort, tried to shield the +queenly, white-robed form that fell prone to the floor. To be sure, he +received a bullet in his temple; and the dark, silken curls were dank +and stiff with gore when the sun lighted up the low adobe room next +morning. However, he had saved _her_ life; for the colonel became cool +when he saw the destroyer of his peace and honor lying dead at his feet. + +There was no public trial--not even a court-martial. The colonel had +killed the doctor in a duel; but nobody demanded a record of the event, +and the reprimand he received was not by sentence. But he was ordered to +Fort Marcy, near Santa Fé. The colonel had borne off a cut across the +forehead, extending upward till under the hair, in one of the pitched +battles with the Indians; and he was known to suffer from headache and +irritation of the wound to such a degree, at times, that +over-excitement, from anger or other cause, made him almost crazy. He +was an old, valiant, and valued officer; and the War Department, not +supposed to know any uninvestigated matter, would excuse many things in +such a one, even though it could not approve them. + +Then it was that the colonel's wife had returned to the States "for her +health,"--as her husband was particular to write to his brother officers +stationed at the barracks and arsenal near to the western city where his +wife's home was. + +Who can tell how rumor travels? When Regina made her appearance at the +arsenal, the very women who had once been proud of her notice seemed +hardly to remember a passing acquaintance with her; and, stung to the +quick, she had barely strength to control her face and hold high her +head till the door of her carriage had closed on her. She laid back her +head, throbbing and aching, yet filled with a thousand plans for +regaining her position and punishing those who had so humbled her. + +It was one of Paul's restless days; and she heard him "storming" on the +piano as her carriage entered the gateway. With sudden interest she +raised her head, while her face grew animated with some struggling +thought. + +When night had set in, and the broad hall-door was thrown open to admit +the soft breeze and the tender moonlight, Regina, for the first time +since her return to the home of her childhood, approached the piano in +the drawing-room and ran her fingers over the keys. The door stood open, +and from her seat she could see into the hall, and catch a glimpse of +Paul's shadow every time he passed the hall-door in his walk on the +moonlit veranda. Not a muscle of her face moved as she continued in her +play, striking chords and running _roulades_, without any apparent +purpose save that of touching once more the old familiar key-board. +Paul's shadow flitted by, regularly and restlessly, never varying an +inch in his distance from the door as he passed it. Suddenly the chords +melted into a melody low and sweet, yet swelling almost into wildness in +its yearning, longing tenderness. + +Regina listened intently, and--surely Paul could not have paused +suddenly in his walk on the veranda! Directly his footsteps came again, +halting and uncertain, and Regina repeated the air, throwing into it +more intensity, even, than at first. She seemed absorbed in her playing, +though she knew full well when Paul's hesitating footsteps crossed the +threshold, and moved nearer the drawing-room entrance. When he stood in +the door, she looked up, as though unwilling to be disturbed in her +musical meditations. One look at the deathly-pale face, above which the +dark blonde hair rose like a lion's mane, assured her that she would +gain--_had_ gained--her end; and she played on, as though forgetting his +presence in an instant. Presently, a hoarse, unsteady voice reached her +ear: + +"Where did you learn that air? Who taught you the song?" + +She looked up unconcernedly. + +"That air? Do you like it?" + +He nodded his head impatiently. + +"Where did you learn it? Who taught you?" + +"That song? Oh, I learned that in New Mexico." + +He looked at her wildly for a moment, but her gaze was so steady that he +dropped his eyes and moved slowly away. + +Late in the night, when Regina awoke from a sleep sweeter and sounder +than any she had yet enjoyed, she heard Paul's steps in the hall-way, on +his way to bed. + +"You have left me alone all night again," complained his wife, when he +entered the room; "and I have had one of my nervous spells." + +"You keep the room so confoundedly hot and full of camphor that it +smothers me to stay here," was the crusty reply. + +"Would you want me to keep the windows and shutters open, so as to let +the mosquitoes come in and devour us?" + +"Why do you keep the light burning till twelve in the night, then?" + +"But, Paul, I can't read in the dark, can I? And I want some pastime, I +am sure, so sick and feeble as I am," weeping for very pity of herself. + +"Throw those foolish books out of the window; the camphor-bottle, too; +let air and daylight into your room, and you'll soon get well and +strong," he answered, willing to be kind and anxious to hush her +distracting sobs. + +Regina, in her room, breathed a little sigh of satisfaction; for though +she could not hear the conversation, she could guess very nearly what +Paul's reception had been: "Ah! my clever brother-in-law, yours is not a +bed of roses, either;" and with this comforting reflection she dropped +off to sleep. + +Next morning, at the breakfast-table, Regina watched with placid +interest the haggard face of Paul, and the furtive looks he threw over +to where she sat. During the morning his wife was attacked with sick +headache, "from reading those trashy novels," he said; and by night he +was wandering through the house again, groaning in very anguish of +spirit, and flying, at last, to his only refuge, the piano. Through the +loud clanging of the chords there breathed a strain, now and then, of +the song Regina had played; but in a moment it was drowned by the louder +crashes, which almost shook the house, and seemed the outpouring of some +wild spirit in its abject misery. Day followed day, and as the season +advanced, and autumn set in, with stormy days and long, moonless nights, +Paul grew more restless; and one night, when he had wandered through the +house all day--"as though driven by the Fury of Remorse," Regina +said--she went, unobserved, into the drawing-room, from where soon came +the strains of the song that had so agitated Paul. Again his heavy steps +approached the door, and, as he entered the room, Regina said to +herself, "He has grown ten years older since that evening last summer, +and he is ripe for my purpose now." + +"You learned that song in New Mexico?" he asked, trying to speak in his +usual quiet tones. "I suppose it is a popular air among the Mexicans?" + +"Not a common one, though it is a Spanish song;" and she softly sang the +refrain, "_Ela--Manuela!_" + +Had she stabbed him to the heart he could not have turned paler, or +sprung forward quicker, than at the uttering of the words. + +"She taught it you! Tell me quick, for God's sake!" + +He had clutched her arm, and was shaking her without knowing it. + +"Gently, my dear brother-in-law," she said, sneeringly; and he shook the +hair back from his forehead, and regained his self-possession by a +strong effort. + +"You wanted to know who taught me the song? My information has a +price." + +She had folded her hands in her lap, and was looking quietly into his +face. + +"Name it!" he burst out impatiently. + +"It is a high price; but I can give you _all_ the information you may +want in return. Here is a sample." + +She had turned the music-stool on which she was seated, and while he +paced up and down the room to hide his agitation, she continued in the +tone of one holding easy converse with a good friend: + +"I learned this little Spanish song from a very pretty girl in New +Mexico. She said she had once taught it to an American, a tall, handsome +man, with blue eyes and fair face, who must have been in love with her, +I think, for he had always substituted her name, in the refrain, for the +name which the author of the song had put into it. She, too, must have +been fond of this American with blue eyes and dark blonde hair; for, +though not in the least conceited, or aware of her own attractions, she +always sang the refrain with her own name, Manuela, instead of the +original name, Juanita, simply because this American had wished her so +to do. The air is beautiful, I think; and the words are very pretty +too." She turned to the keys again, as though to repeat the air. + +"Stop!" he said hoarsely, arresting her hand; "you will kill me. What is +the price you ask?" + +"The price is high," he groaned, when she had coolly and in unfaltering +tones stated her conditions to him. "But if you promise to keep to your +word, I will do my best." + +"You will succeed, then," she said, holding out her hand, and speaking +almost cordially as they parted for the night. + +When she reached her room she seemed for once to have fallen into Paul's +_rôle_ of Wandering Jew; but her steps were noiseless, though the +thoughts that danced and chased through her brain _would_ come to her +tongue, in quick, triumphant words. + +"My upright, truthful judge and brother-in-law--to bring about a +reconciliation between his best friend, my husband, and his 'erring but +loving wife.'" A haughty look flashed in her eyes: "Regina--and pleading +for forgiveness! Ah, well--even a queen must sometimes stoop to +conquer!" + +The weeks passed slowly on; and, absorbed though Laura was in her +camphor-bottle and her novels, she could not but notice that Paul had +altogether changed in his behavior toward her sister; and she rejoiced +over this in her own fashion: + +"I always told Regina that her innocence would come to light, and she +would triumph over the machinations of her enemies, and get married to +a--But she _is_ married--I forget. Well, it will all come right, and +she'll be ever so happy, I know." + +Poor thing! She could not live to see her so. The camphor-bottle, the +close, dark room, and the Frenchy novels were too much for her; and +before the spring had brought any flowers to strew on her grave, they +had laid her in a darker, closer room than she had yet been in. Her +husband and Regina followed the coffin, dressed in deep mourning; and +Regina's face, as well as Paul's, was paler and sadder by a good many +shades than usual. + +Meanwhile, letters passed frequently between Paul and his friend and +brother-in-law; and one day, when the roses and lilacs that bordered the +lawn were shedding fragrance and beauty together over the old +homestead-grounds, Paul announced to his sister-in-law that he would +accompany her on her journey to New Mexico. + +How the wind of the plains through Paul's hair made it look more than +ever like a lion's mane! and how like the Paul of long ago he looked, +mounted on his fiery black horse! Something like pity for him sometimes +stole into Regina's heart; but she would sneer at herself for the +feeling. "Did he pity me when I came home broken-hearted--repentant?" + +The long hours of their rest--for the colonel had seen to it that his +wife had not to travel in the plebeian stage, but was furnished train +and escort at Fort Leavenworth--she beguiled with telling, bit by bit, +the story of her acquaintance with Manuela, who had found her way to the +fort on the Rio Pecos, one day, where they had been stationed. Regina +had been captivated at once by the girl's gentle face and soft black +eyes; and when, after an acquaintance of some weeks, she surmised that +the girl was looking for the man who had once loved and then, +unaccountably, deserted her, she felt only pity for one who could so +unselfishly and devotedly love any man as to give up home and friends, +and wander through what must seem the wide world to this poor girl, in +search of him. That the man was Paul, she felt quite sure; though she +had never expressed the least suspicion of this to the colonel. + +This much only could Paul learn from his sister-in-law; and that she +knew, even now, where the girl could be found; further than this she +would not say; would not tell him that Manuela had lived in her own +household, half as domestic, half as companion; that she had been +induced to this by the vague hope that while with Americans she might +more easily learn of those who arrived, or returned, from the States to +the Territories; that on leaving Santa Fé she had exacted a promise from +the girl to remain in the colonel's quarters and employ until she should +send her permission to leave her post. + +And so they reached Santa Fé--Paul hopeful and expectant as a young +bridegroom; Regina calm and thoughtful, but trying to look cheerful when +she knew of Paul's eyes resting on her; when unobserved, the dreary, +despairing look crept back into her eyes, and her face, white as marble, +grew rigid as the face of a statue. When the cluster of square, +low-built adobe houses, called Santa Fé, rose up before them, Paul +could hardly restrain his impatience; but he had promised to be guided +in all things by his sister-in-law, and he had now to abide by her +decisions. "It would be painful and embarrassing to have any one, even +her own brother-in-law, present at her first meeting with the colonel," +she said, and therefore requested Paul to remain over night in Santa Fé, +and ride over in the morning to where Fort Marcy lay, on the low rise of +the hills bordering the plain. + +Since Regina so wished it, let the meeting between herself and husband +be entirely private. We will not draw aside the veil till the next +morning, which came up with a blaze of broad, staring sunshine, +promising an unpleasantly hot day. The commanding officer's quarters, +though surrounded by a neat paling-fence, was as bare and innocent of +the least attempt at a garden as all the rest of the quarters were. The +red, hard earth alone stared up at the hard blue sky; outside the +fortress walls, ungainly cactus and stunted mesquit bushes made the +plain look only the more inhospitable and barren. + +The quarters were low, but cool; and as the doorways were only hung with +curtains, the breeze that swept over the plain had free access to every +room in the house. The large sitting-room at the colonel's quarters had +been darkened since early morning, and the heat excluded as much as +possible, for the colonel was threatened with a severe attack of the +torturing headache that sprang from the badly-healed wound in his +forehead. As the sun rose higher, he succumbed to the pain; and as he +threw himself on the wide, low lounge, in intolerable suffering, Regina +stepped lightly to his side, to supply the usual remedies. But a cold +look and colder words drove her back from his couch; and as he called to +Manuela to bathe his head, in gentle, almost tender tones, she for the +first time felt a deadly hatred toward this girl, whom she knew still to +be an angel in virtue and purity. + +Struck to the heart, she left the room, only to throw herself on the +hard floor of the next apartment, where she grovelled in an agony of +anger and pain. Suddenly the sound of horses' hoofs fell on her ear, and +she sprang up with one wild bound, and flew to the door, just in time to +motion Paul, who had already dismounted, into her presence. + +"Now has my time come!" She could hardly restrain herself from crying it +out aloud to the frowning mountain and the arid plain. "Ricardo, thou +shalt be avenged! avenged thou, my poor heart, for the tears and the +blood wrung from thee for many, many bitter days!" + +The light of the sun shining into Paul's eyes, blinded him; and though +he saw the finger laid on her lips, he could not see the dishevelled +hair and bloodshot eyes, and approached her, looking for some glad +surprise. He had donned a Mexican costume, and the little silver bells +on the outside seam of his pantaloons jingled musically at every step; +while the short jacket, showing the pistol-belt under the red sash, set +his figure off to full advantage. + +He spoke laughingly: "You see I have turned Mexican, every inch of me!" +then he caught the wild eyes, with their frenzied look, and he grasped +her hand, exclaiming, "Good God! what has happened?" + +"Happened?" she echoed with a demoniac laugh; "we have been +deceived--outraged--cheated out of our life's happiness--both you and I! +Behold the traitor and the serpent!" + +Drawing aside the curtain that hung in the door-arch between the two +rooms, she beckoned him to approach, and pointed silently to the group +in the next room. Bending over the reclining form of the man on the +lounge stood a girl, whose face, of angel goodness, was turned in +profile to the two intruders at the doorway. The man's eyes were closed; +and as the girl stooped lower, his hand stole softly around her form, +and nestled there, lovingly, tenderly, as though it had found a +long-sought resting-place. Pliant braids of glossy black hair fell far +below the girl's waist; and her eyes were of the almond shape, that we +find in the faces of those descended from the people of Castile. + +In a moment Paul's burning eyes had taken in the picture, and an +inarticulate sound came over his lips. The woman beside him watched him +with the eyes of a tigress; and he never knew--was it _her_ touch that +guided him, or did his own evil passions move his hand from his reeking +brow to the pistol in his belt? There was a sharp report, a shriek and a +groan, and the next minute Paul Kennerly was dashing over the plain, +mounted on his fleet black horse, the wind tossing through his hair, and +raising it from his bare brow, where it reared itself proudly, like the +mane of a lion when he flies from captivity and death. + + + + +_THE ROMANCE OF GILA BEND._ + + +Travelling from Los Angeles to Tucson, you can, if you choose, sleep +under a roof almost every night, providing you have good teams. There +are Government forage stations along the whole route, where travellers +are "taken in" by the station-keepers, though not on Government account. +I do not say that it is pleasant at all these stations, particularly for +a woman, as she will seldom or never meet one of her own sex on the way. +When we left Fort Yuma, Sam, the driver, assured me that I would not see +a white woman's face between there and Tucson. He was mistaken. I met +not only one, but a whole family of them, one after another. + +The day that brought us to Oatman's Flat was murky, dark, and gloomy--a +day in full harmony with the character of the country we were travelling +through. We descended into the Flat by an abrupt fall in the road that +landed us at once among a clump of scraggy, darkling willows, drooping +wearily over a sluggish little creek. In the distance we could see the +white sand of the bed of the Gila, and half-buried in it the ghastly, +water-bleached limbs of the trees that the river had uprooted year after +year in its annual frenzy. We could not go the upper road, on account of +the Gila's having washed out a portion of it, and the lower road seemed +to be regarded by Sam with all the disfavor it deserved. Verde or +grease-wood, as ragged and scraggy as the willows, covered the whole +Flat, except where, towards the centre, a dilapidated shanty stood on a +sandy, cheerless open space. Not far from it were the remains of a +fence, enclosing some six paces of uneven ground, and on the only upper +rail left of the inclosure sat a dismal-looking, solitary crow. + +There was something so repulsively dreary about the whole place that it +made me shudder, and when Sam, pointing to it with his whip, said it was +the spot where the Oatman family had been murdered and lay buried, I was +not in the least surprised. Only one of the whole family had escaped--a +little chap who had crawled away after he had been left for dead, and +brought the white people from the next settlement to the scene of the +massacre. There was nothing to be done but to bury the mutilated +corpses; after this, the place had been deserted and shunned by the few +who lived here, though there had been no more Indian depredations +committed for years past. + +I was glad that the road did not take us very near the shanty, though I +watched it with a strange fascination. Sam, too, had his eyes fixed on +something that might have been the shadow of one of the victims, +flitting by the black gap which had once been the door. The place was so +weird that the ghostly shadow seemed to belong there; it chimed in so +well with the rest, that I accepted it as a part of the uncanny whole. +We had been going along at the usual leisurely gait, but Sam whipped up +the mules all at once, and leaned out of the ambulance to speak to Phil, +who drove the army wagon containing our baggage. The road was good and +solid, so I took no alarm at first; but when the speed was continued, +and the baggage-wagon kept thundering close behind us, I ventured to +ask, "Is there danger from Indians here?" + +"There hain't no Indians been seen around here for more'n three years," +was the answer, which satisfied me at the time. + +When we came to Burke's Station, where we were to pass the night, a +surprise awaited us. The house, a squalid _adobe_, was built in the +style common along the route--an open passage-way with rooms on either +side. The principal room to the left was bar-room and store-room; the +room to the right was reception-room, sitting-room, bed-room, and behind +it was the kitchen. The passage-way was dining-hall. When the tall young +Missourian, mine host, had ushered me into the room, he stepped to the +opening leading to the kitchen and called out: + +"Here, Sis, come and speak to the lady." + +Obedient to the call, a bashful, half-grown girl appeared, wiping her +hands on her apron, and looking up timidly from under her long +eyelashes. I took her by the hand. "How do you, child? How in the world +did you get here, and where is your mother?" I asked. + +Sam and Phil stood in the hall-door nudging each other, until Sam could +restrain himself no longer. + +"Why, that's his wife," pointing to the young Goliah from Missouri, "and +her dad and mam's living in the old shanty down on the Flat. I'll be +derned if they didn't give me the worst scare I had yet--thought they +was Indians, shore!" + +I looked from one to the other. "And how old are you?" I asked the girl. + +"Almost fifteen!" was the answer; and when the men withdrew she told me +about the rest of her family, whom I would probably find along the road. + +Sis was badly dressed; a coarse cotton gown, made with a yoke about an +inch and a half in depth, was drawn up close around her neck, and hung +loosely about her slender, immature form; her naked feet were thrust +into coarse boots, and a large check apron completed her costume. But +there was a shy, daisy-like grace about her that made one forget the +dress and see only the dove-like eyes and half-pensive smile on her +face. Her husband treated her in all things like a child, and she obeyed +him without a murmur or a question. When we left he told us that we +would find Sis's aunt at Kenyon's Station, and charged us to say that +Sis was well, and not the least bit homesick. + +We made Kenyon's Station early in the day, Sam and Phil greatly enjoying +the prospect of seeing another white woman here. She appeared on the +threshold, a brawny, coarse-handed woman of about forty, tidy-looking, +in spite of her bare feet and the short pipe in her mouth. By her side +appeared a shock-headed girl of twelve, with eyes agog and mouth open at +the strange apparition of a civilized-looking white woman. The husband +stood beside the ambulance--six feet and a half in his cowhide boots--a +good-humored smile on his leathery face, and lifted me to the ground as +though I had been a feather. Though the house, like that at Burke's +Station, was only _adobe_, there was an air of homely comfort about it, +inside and out, that made it much more cheerful than the other place. + +Aunt Polly was an excellent housekeeper--as viewed from a Texan +standpoint--and after she had in the most _naïve_ manner satisfied her +curiosity in regard to my looks and general make-up, she commenced +preparations for dinner. Sarah Eliza Jane, sole daughter of the house +and race, stayed by me in the room. Sitting in a low, home-made chair, +she stared steadily at me, sitting on a taller home-made chair, till she +had comprehended that the bits of braid and lace in my lap were to be +manufactured into a collar similar to the one I wore in my dress. When +she learned that the collar was to be for her, she ran out to the +kitchen, shouting for her mother to come and see what I was doing. The +mother's delight was as frank and hearty as the daughter's, and all at +once the secret leaked out that the family was in possession of a fine +American cow. Never speak disparagingly to me of Pikes and Texans. The +least kindness shown to them is returned tenfold, and the smallest +advance of friendliness is met by them half-way. When dinner (or supper) +was placed on the table, there came with it the most delicious butter I +had eaten for many a long day, to say nothing of a glass of buttermilk, +the sweetest I ever tasted. But I must tell you how Aunt Polly made the +butter, in case you should emigrate to Arizona without a patent diamond +churn. The cream was put into a high tin quart cup, and beaten with a +spoon till the butter came--which it did in about fifteen minutes. + +By the time dinner was over we had become quite intimate, and Aunt Polly +having resumed her pipe, gave me a short account of her history since +emigrating from Texas. The two most striking incidents were the loss of +her former husband by a stroke of lightning, about ten months ago, and +the acquisition of her present husband by a stroke of policy, about +three months ago. Though she did not show me the weeds she had worn on +becoming a widow, she exhibited the gorgeous "good clothes" she wore on +again becoming a wife. She stood at a little distance from me and spread +out the second-day dress, so that I could see the whole of the pattern, +consisting of detached bouquets--brilliantly variegated in color and +gigantic in size--scattered over a plain of light sky-blue. The dress +worn for "the occasion" was a gauzy white muslin, which must have had a +delicate effect--if she wore bare feet and a pipe in her mouth with it. +Her husband had proved kind and indulgent. Since their marriage he had +been at Maricopa Wells, and had bought at the store there another +beautiful dress of many colors--which, alas! had run out of his +saddle-bags, after a two hours' hard rain, on his way home. I saw the +dress pattern, and--oh, it was pitiful. + +After this display of good-will and fine clothes on her part, she said +she had a favor to ask of me, too. She pointed to my trunk, and said her +husband was crazy to know whether there was a waterfall in it? He had +read so much about waterfalls in the stray papers that fell into his +hands that he had the greatest curiosity in the world to know what it +was, and to see one with his own eyes. He imagined it to be a kind of +box or bag that ladies wore on their heads to carry their hair in, and, +seeing no foreign matter on my head, he "reckoned that I packed it with +me in my trunk." Aunt Polly had shrewdly guessed it to be a new fashion +of "putting up" the hair; but they both had about as correct an idea of +it as a blind man has of colors. With deep regret I owned that there was +no waterfall in my trunk; but seeing their disappointment, I succeeded, +with the aid of a pair of stockings and a pin-cushion, in putting up my +hair into quite a little Niagara, to the great delight of these +fashion-worshipping people. + +How charming the grove of trees looks, when you draw up under their +shadow at Gila Bend, after days of travel over tedious sand-plains or +through wildernesses of grease-wood and cactus. The whisper of the wind +in the trees, the bark of the dog that ran out to meet us, and the +cackle of the busy hens around the doorway, told us that we should find +good and happy people here. There was the solitary house as usual, but +it seemed more pretentious than those at the other stations. The +passage-way was higher and wider, the rooms more numerous, and finished +with whitewash and good glass windows. At the windows curtains; a +gay-colored counterpane on the bed, and wolf-skins in front of it and +the lounge. + +The station-keeper was a black-bearded, good-looking man, and his name +was George Washington--(I won't give the rest of his name--it's too +long). I knew I should find Sis's elder sister here as Mrs. George W. +----, for she had been married on the same day with her Aunt Polly. The +blue eyes, under long, silken lashes, that met my gaze on the threshold +at Gila Bend were like Sis's, only these were the eyes of a woman; there +were the same pretty movements, too, only there was more of +self-assertion in them. She might have been eighteen; from out of the +muslin dress she wore shone the whitest shoulders that belle ever +exhibited in a ball-room. Her hands and feet were small, and her rich +brown hair, oddly, though not unbecomingly dressed, lay on a forehead +white and pure as that of a child. + +No wonder George W. was proud of his wife, and had tried hard to win as +such the barefooted girl whom he found one day, with her family and some +sorry ox-teams, camped near his house, on their way from Texas to +California. It was quite a large family. There was the girl's mother, +her step-father, her sister, her brother, the aunt, and the aunt's +little girl. Aunt Polly seemed to be the leading man, for to her +belonged the two best ox-teams, one of which was driven by herself, the +other by the girl, Dorinda. She had hired or bought her niece from the +step-father for this purpose, after she had lost her husband by +lightning, and Dora had been faithful to her task, although pretty +nearly worn out crossing the Desert from Maricopa Wells to Gila Bend, +where George W. first found them. After he had taken a deep look into +the girl's eyes, he very disinterestedly invited the whole family to +come into his house--as far as they would go in--to rest there from the +long, hard journey. The family was treated to the best the house +afforded, and the oxen were fed on such hay as they had perhaps never +dreamed of before. + +The Texans were in no hurry to move on, and George W. was in no hurry to +have them go; being a bachelor, he was naturally fond of ladies' +society. Dora, Sis, and the ten-year-old brother soon became warmly +attached to him, and they, with the big dog, Bose, would daily wander +off to the Gila to catch fish. When they got there the two barefooted +girls and the brother would wade into the stream with ever fresh zest, +as they recalled that dreadful drag across the waterless desert. Bose +always went into the water with them, George W. alone remaining on the +bank, fishing-line in hand. + +One day, when Dora had watched the cool, clear water gliding swiftly +over her sun-browned feet in silence, she raised her eyes suddenly from +under the long, shading lashes: + +"Why do you never come into the water? Don't you like to stand in it?" +she asked of George. + +"Come and sit beside me here, and I will tell you!" + +She nestled down beside him, and he called to Bose, who laid his head on +his master's knee and looked knowingly from one to the other. + +"About three years ago, before I had built this house of mine, I lived +in a little shanty, about a mile from the river--just back here. The +summer was very hot. I had suffered much from the sun and the want of +water in crossing the country, and after the man who came out here with +me had gone on to Fort Yuma, I was left entirely alone. When I see you +over your ankles in the water now, I am often tempted to call you back, +only I know that you are young and strong, and I remember but too well +what pleasure there is in it. Besides, you do not remain in it as I did, +for long weary hours every day, standing in the shade of a willow +catching fish for my dinner. There was little else here to eat then, and +I never left off fishing till I was taken with rheumatism, from which I +had suffered years before. I was all alone and could not move, and had +nearly perished for want of water, because I could not walk down to the +river to get it. Nor could I cook anything, because beans require a +great deal of water, and I would have died alone in my shanty, if it had +not been for this dog." (Bose wagged his tail to indicate that he +understood what was being said.) "A dozen times a day Bose would trot +down to the river, dip up a small tin pailful of water, and bring it to +me where I stood or lay. Otherwise the faithful old fellow never left my +side, day or night, and though he would, no doubt, nurse me through +another spell of rheumatism, it would be dreadful to be sick and alone +here after you and your people have left me." + +Dora was stroking the dog's rough coat. "It would be dreadful," she +repeated, absently, a tear rolling from her lashes to her cheek. Her +words and the look in her eyes thrilled the man to his inmost soul. + +"Dora," he said, and arrested the hand travelling over Bose's head; +"Dora, I am old enough to be your father--" + +"Yes," she replied, looking up artlessly--but there was something in his +face that made her eyes drop and the warm blood flush her cheeks. + +When he spoke again it was of something quite different, and after +awhile the conversation turned to her family. Her stepfather did not +always treat her well; he had struck her cruelly once, and her mother +dared not interfere, she knowing his temper but too well. George could +hardly keep from putting his arms about her to shield her from the man's +rough ways, and in his heart he vowed that it should be different if +Dora did but will it so. The stepfather and aunt had spoken of pulling +up stakes soon, but what wonder that Dora was averse to going? + +In the evening George W. proposed to the stepfather that he remain at +the station and "farm it" near the river, while the mother kept house +for them all and served meals to the travelling public of Arizona. From +sheer perverseness the stepfather refused, saying that he wanted to go +on to California, and George W. determined to hasten matters in another +direction. He hovered as much as possible about Dora, who, since the day +by the riverside, had taken Bose into her confidence and affection. +Wherever she went the dog went, too, and his master augured well for +himself from this, though Dora was shy and more distant than when she +first came to Gila Bend. + +One day the Texans commenced gathering up their "tricks" and making +ready to go. Dora's eyes were red, and George W., to cheer her, perhaps, +proposed that she should go with him to where he suspected one of the +hens had made a nest in the bushes by the river bank. When they came +back she seemed even more shy, though she stole up to him in the +twilight, where he stood by the big mesquite tree, and hastily put her +hands into his. He drew her to him quickly, pressed her head to his +breast, and murmured: "Thanks, my little girl!" as he touched her hair +with his lips. An hour later there was clamor and confusion at Gila +Bend. George W. seemed to have caused it all, for to him the aunt +vehemently declared that she _would_ have the girl to drive her ox-team +into California--she had hired her and paid for her; and the step-father +shouted that he had control of the child, and go she should, whether or +no. + +Poor George passed a sleepless night. The picture of Dora, barefooted +and weary, toiling hopelessly through the sand on the desert, was always +before him, and he swore to himself that she should not go from him; +that he would shelter her henceforth from the cruel, burning sun, and +the sharp words and sharper blows of her stepfather. In the morning, +after exacting a promise from the aunt and the stepfather to remain +until he returned, he started out alone on his trusty horse, Bose +running close by his side. When he had left the shelter of the trees, he +halted and looked keenly about him in every direction. A sharp bark from +Bose made him turn toward the river. Swift of foot as the antelope of +the plains, Dora was crossing the stretch of land between the road and +the river, and when she reached the lone horseman waiting for her, a +light bound brought her foot into the stirrup and her flushed face on a +level with his. + +"Thanks, my little girl, I knew you would come," he said, as on the +night before; but this time he held her face between his hands and +looked searchingly into her eyes. "What if they should try to take my +little girl away before I come back--would she go off and leave me?" + +She met his look fearlessly and confidingly. "Tell me what direction you +are going, and I will run away and follow you, if they break up before +your return." + +"Toward Fort Yuma. I shall ride day and night, and return to you in ten +days. Good-bye; keep faith and keep courage." + +"Good-bye!" for the first time the soft, bare arms were laid around his +neck, and the blushing, child-like face half-buried in his full black +beard. "Let me keep Bose here," she called after him, and at a word from +his master, the dog sped after her over the cactus-covered ground. + +At Gila Bend, preparations for departure on George's return were kept on +foot--purposely, it seemed, to keep before Dora's eyes the fact that she +was expected to go with her people when they went. The days passed, one +like the other; there was no event to break the monotony of this +desert-life. Yes, there was a change; but none knew of it nor perceived +it, except, perhaps, Dora's mother. From a thoughtless, easily-guided +girl, Dora was changing into a self-reliant, strong-spirited woman. Her +mother knew of her resolve as well as though she had heard her utter it; +she looked upon her eldest-born with all the greater pride when she +discovered that "the gal had a heap of her dad's grit," as well as his +mild blue eyes. + +When the morning of the tenth day dawned, Dora was up betimes, mending, +with deft fingers, all the little rents she could find, in her thin, +well-worn dress. Never before had she felt that she was poor, or that +she wanted more than the simple gown and the limp sun-bonnet making up +her attire. + +"Moving" had been their permanent state and normal condition as long as +she could think back; and she had known mostly only those who lived in +the same condition. She had never seen town or city; yet, in the +settlements through which they had passed, she had seen enough of +backwoods finery to know that her wardrobe was scantily furnished. At +last, one by one, the tears gathered slowly in her eyes, and she leaned +her head on the edge of the bed where her sister lay still asleep, and +sobbed till Sis woke up and looked at her with wondering eyes. + +In the course of the day, Dora went to the river two or three times, +Bose always close at her heels. Whatever may have been the character of +the mysterious consultations they held, in the afternoon the dog was +missing until near sundown, when he dashed into the station, panting and +with protruding tongue, his tail wagging excitedly while lapping up the +water Dora had filled his basin with. Unobserved she stole away, and +when quite a distance from the house, Bose came tearing through the +cactus after her, "pointing" in the direction from where a light dust +arose. The little cloud came nearer, and soon a horseman could be +discovered in it. A race began between Dora and the dog, and when the +different parties met, Bose was fain to leap up and salute the horse's +face, because the rider was otherwise engaged. When Dora was perched in +front of him, the horse continued the journey in a slow walk, while the +girl looked the question she was too timid to ask. George answered her +look: "Yes, darling, I think your aunt will be satisfied." + +"Then you have brought a man?" Her curiosity had conquered, for she +could see no human being beside themselves. + +"I have." His laugh made her shrink a little--like the _mimosa +sensitiva_, when touched by ever so dainty a finger--and, he added, +soberly, "Two of them. One is the station-keeper at Kenyon's Station. +Their wagon will come into sight directly; but I don't want them to see +my little girl out here with me." + +An hour afterward a heavily laden wagon, drawn by two stout horses, was +rolling into Gila Bend, followed by Mr. George W., mounted on Bess. A +pleasant welcome was extended by all to the new arrivals; even Bose, the +hypocrite, barked and capered and flounced his tail as though he hadn't +greeted his master, two miles down the road, a little while ago. Supper +was served by the mother and aunt--this latter lady being narrowly but +furtively watched by the station-keeper of Kenyon's Station. All +thoughts of business or departure seemed banished for that night. The +aunt and the newly-come station-keeper enjoying their pipe in quiet +harmony, a little apart from the rest, so much taken up with each other +that the second man was left entirely to the family. The next morning +this second man was offered to the aunt by George W. as a substitute for +Dora; but, as the Kenyon's station-keeper had offered himself to her as +a husband, earlier in the day, the substitute was declined. Neither +George nor the second man, however, seemed put out about it. Indeed, +there was something suspicious about the readiness with which he went to +work on the half-finished corral building at the station. The aunt and +the stepfather did not seem to notice this. Only the mother thought her +own thoughts about it. + +Later in the day, when the father and the brother were with the man at +the corral, the aunt with her station-keeper, and Sis thoughtfully kept +employed by her mother, Dora found a chance to steal out to the wagon, +where George was waiting for her. From under the wagon sheet he drew two +or three bundles, which, on being opened, contained what Dora thought +the finest display of dry-goods she had ever seen. Lost in admiration, +her face suddenly fell, and a queer, unexplained sense of something +painful or humiliating jarred on her feelings when several pairs of +ladies' shoes and numerous pairs of stockings made their appearance from +out of one of the bundles. She drew back, hurt and abashed, and when +George asked-- + +"But, Dora, don't you like your finery? I thought you liked pink. Isn't +this dress pretty?" + +She answered confusedly, "I--I didn't know they were for me--and +besides--I can't take them. I know I am a poor--ignorant girl--but--" a +sob finished the sentence as she turned to go to the house. + +But she did not go. I don't know what George W. said to her while he +held her close to him. It was something about his right to buy finery +for his little wife, and the like nonsense, which Dora did not repeat to +Sis when she presented to her a dress of the brightest possible scarlet. + +That night they all sat out under the trees together. There was no more +reserve or secrecy maintained. A dozen papers of the choicest brands of +tobacco and half a dozen bottles of "Colorado river water," from Fort +Yuma, had wonderfully mollified the stepfather. The mother would have +been happy, even without the indigo-blue dress that fell to her share, +and Buddy was radiant in new suspenders and a white store shirt. As soon +as possible a Justice of the Peace was imported from Arizona City, to +which place he was faithfully returned, after having made two happy +couples at Gila Bend. + + +Many months after, on my way back from Tucson, we came quite +unexpectedly, between the latter place and Sacaton, on a new shanty. It +was built of unhewn logs of cottonwood and mesquite trees, the branches, +with their withered foliage, furnishing the roof. A certain cheerful, +home-like air about the place made me surmise the presence of a woman. + +I was not mistaken; for though the only door of the hut was closed, and +I could see no window, a loud but pleasant treble voice rang out +directly: "Dad! Bud! come right h'yere to me. I know that's her comin' +thar--I jist know it is," and a little lithe body rushed out of the door +and up to the ambulance, as though she meant to take wagon, mules, and +all by storm. A rough-looking man came slowly from behind the house, and +Bud, with a selection of dogs at his heels, clambered over a piece of +fence--merely for the sake of climbing, as there was plenty of open +space to cross. + +The delegation insisted on my alighting, which I did in consideration of +Dora's mother being at the head of it. The family had moved back here +from Oatman's Flat, where they had given Sam his Indian scare on our way +out. Once in the house I no longer wondered how she had discovered the +ambulance, with the door closed and no windows in the house. The walls +had not been "chinked," so that between the logs was admitted as much +light and air as the most fastidious could desire. All around were the +signs of busy preparation. It was near Christmas, and they were +expecting company for the holidays--a family moving from Texas to +California had sent word by some vehicle swifter than their ox-teams +that they would be with them by Christmas-day. + +Though the house contained but this one airy room, it was neat and well +kept. Just outside the door there were two Dutch ovens, and this was the +kitchen. Beyond the half-fenced clearing the willows and cottonwoods +grew close by the river, and the mild December sun of Arizona lying on +the rude homestead seemed to give promise of future peace and well-doing +to these who had planted their roof-tree on the banks of the Gila. + +The mother sent her love and a fresh-baked cake by us to her daughter. A +loaf of the same cake was given to me, and I can say that it tasted +better than what I have often eaten at well-set tables, though there was +no cow to furnish milk or butter, and only a few chickens to lay eggs. +At Gila Bend, you remember, they had chickens, too; and when I got out +of the ambulance there some days later, I stopped to admire a brood of +little chicks just out of the shell. + +"How pretty they are," said I, looking up into George W.'s honest face. + +"Ah!" he exclaimed, his eyes lighting up, "but go inside, to Dora." + +He led the way to the room, and there, in a little cradle, lay a sweet, +pretty girl-baby--the first white child, so far as history records, that +was ever born at Gila Bend. + + + + +_A LADY IN CAMP._ + + +Camp "Andrew Jackson," in the southern part of Arizona, had not always +been without that brightest star on the horizon of an army officer's +outpost life, "A lady in camp." If you happened to be of sufficiently +good social standing, and clever fellow enough to be received and +entertained by the officers of the One Hundred and First Cavalry--which +had long garrisoned Camp Andrew Jackson--one or the other of them might +tell you, confidentially, lounging in a quartermaster-made chair under +the _ramáda_ of the sutler-store, as far as he knew it, the story of +this lady. + +Camp Andrew Jackson was a two-company post; and the officers of both +companies, or the number remaining--after a liberal deduction by +detached service, furlough, and sick-list--had congregated one day, +years ago, to discuss the chances of the major's arrival in the course +of the night or the following day. The place of congregating was the +sutler-store, or the _ramáda_ in front of it; time, between "stables" +and "retreat." + +"Don't I tell you," asserted young Grumpet, in his most emphatic manner, +"don't I tell you that when I was in Tucson, the general told me that he +should not be able to let the major have more than five men and a +corporal for escort from Tucson out here; and do you think that Major +Stanford, with that young wife of his--a shining mark for Apache +arrows--would venture on the road, in broad daylight, with this small +number? No, indeed. I tell you he'll start out from Tucson about this +time, reach Davidson's Springs at midnight, and get in here toward +morning in good order and condition." + +"Seems to me I shouldn't be afraid to start out from Tucson, and go +anywhere in broad daylight, with _my_ wife," said old Captain Manson, +the post-commander, grimly. + +An amused expression passed over the faces of the younger officers; +everybody in camp knew, from hearsay, if not from personal observation, +that the captain and his wife lived like "cats and dogs" when they were +together, and that he would probably have let _her_ go out from Tucson +anywhere, in broad daylight and all alone, without the slightest fear or +compunction, had she been in Arizona. + +"For my part," continued Mr. Grumpet, who had been assigned to the One +Hundred and First, and ordered to Arizona immediately after graduating +from West Point, one year ago, "I shall be rejoiced to welcome a lady to +the camp. One grows rusty at these outposts in the course of years, +without the refining influence of ladies' society--without opportunities +of any kind for cultivating and improving one's intellect and manners." + +"The One Hundred and First has always had an excellent library, +embracing books suited to a wide range of capacities and intellect, from +a 'First Reader' to 'Corinne' and the 'Cosmos.' And, as far as +_tournure_ and manners are concerned," continued the gruff captain in a +lower tone, and turning to the post-adjutant beside him, "why, I'm sure +the doctor and I have made Chesterfieldian prodigies of Tom, the pup; +Bruin, the grizzly; and Chatter, the parrot!" + +From the laugh that followed, the junior lieutenant of Company "F" knew +that something had been said to create this merriment at his expense; +but he consoled himself with the thought that "old Manson" felt sore +because Major Stanford would relieve him in the command of the post, and +probably make him (Grumpet) post-adjutant, as he belonged to the +major's company. Left in command of Company "F" by the senior +lieutenant's absence, and officer of the day at the same time, Mr. +Grumpet felt that he had no more time to devote to this class of +mortals; so, bidding them a disdainful "_Adieu_," he proceeded to his +own quarters, where he arranged sash, sabre, and belt to the greatest +advantage on his sprightly person, and then awaited the summons to the +parade-ground. + +Whatever his meditations might have been, as his eyes wandered over the +interminable sand-waste before him, they were interrupted by the +spectacle of a cloud of dust arising in the distance. Quickly returning +to his brother officers, he called their attention to this phenomenon. + +"If it is not a smoke that the Indians are raising for a signal, it must +be the major with his party," was Captain Manson's opinion. + +To Mr. Grumpet's infinite disgust he could not find time to argue this +question with his superior officer, for the arbitrary tones of the bugle +called him to the parade-ground, and when he next found time to +contemplate the landscape, the major's outfit was already in sight and +slowly nearing the camp. + +There is nothing martial in the appearance and progress of a military +"outfit," unless accompanied by a command: the rough, gaunt mules +drawing the dust-covered ambulance or carriage, followed, as the case +may be, by one, two, or three heavy army-wagons; the jaded, worn horses +of the escort, and the tired-looking, travel-stained men forming the +escort, make a decidedly demoralized and demoralizing impression toward +the close of a long journey. + +The two occupants of the elegant travelling-carriage accompanying this +train were in a state of involuntary _déshabillé_, owing to the +sand-storm through which they had passed early that morning, during +which the major's hat and a number of Mrs. Stanford's veils and wraps +had taken to flight. Marcelita alone, seated beside the driver in the +front of the carriage, had sustained no losses; as her _rebozo_, the +only outside garment she possessed, had been so tightly wrapped around +her that the storm had vented its fury in vain on her belongings. + +Marcelita was one of those moon-faced, good-natured Mexican women we +meet with in New Mexico and Arizona. She had probably decided in her own +mind--though it was not very deep--that it was just as easy to smoke her +_cigarritos_ lounging on the floor of the _adobe_ quarters of Camp +Andrew Jackson, earning thereby _dos reales_ per day, and a +never-failing supply of _frijoles con carne_, as it was to perform the +same amount of labor in Tucson, where nothing could be earned by it, and +the supplies of the dainties just mentioned were by no means certain or +unfailing. So Marcelita became Mrs. Stanford's maid. "Tiring-maid," I +should have said; only I am very certain Marcelita would have drawn Mrs. +Stanford's stockings on her arms, and one of the richly embroidered +petticoats _over_ the plainer-made dresses, had the attiring been left +to the taste and judgment of this dusky child of the soil. + +Captain Manson alone greeted the major and his wife when the train drew +up at the commanding officer's quarters, the younger officers discreetly +awaiting the morrow to pay their respects. In accordance with true "army +spirit," Major Stanford's quarters had been furnished with the best Camp +Andrew Jackson could boast of, in the way of household goods and +furniture, when it had become known that he was to bring a young wife to +camp. Not the officers of the army alone possess this knightly spirit; +every soldier in the command is always ready and willing to part with +the best and dearest in his possession, to contribute to the comfort or +pleasure of "the lady in camp." Major Stanford had not been with his +company since the close of the war; still, when the captain courteously +inquired whether there was any particular individual in the company whom +he would prefer to take into his personal service, the major requested +that Holly--who had already been an old soldier, while the major was +cadet at West Point--might be sent him. + +Holly demonstrated his joy at being thus distinguished by his "old +lieutenant;" and on returning to the men's quarters had so much to say +about the beauty, grace, and goodness of the major's wife, that the men +immediately grew enthusiastic, and before tattoo obtained the +sergeant-major's permission to serenade this first lady in Camp Andrew +Jackson, providing a sufficient number of instruments could be found. +And Mrs. Stanford was awakened from her early slumbers by "music," the +first night she spent in this camp. + +There are always a number of tolerable musicians to be found among +almost any body of soldiers. The One Hundred and First had always been +celebrated for the musical talent in the rank and file of its members; +and though the Graces and the Muses had been somewhat neglected of late +years, they threatened now to take possession of every individual man, +with truly alarming fervor. Indeed, Mrs. Stanford's life was made very +pleasant at this dreaded outpost in Arizona--albeit in a little, +cheerless room, with mud walls and mud floor, carpeted half with soldier +blankets half with old tent-cloth. A washstand of painted pine-wood, and +a table of the same material in its native color; a bench to match; one +or two camp-chairs, and a camp-cot with red blanket--representing a +sofa--made up and completed the _ameublement_ of Mrs. Stanford's best +room. But there were red calico curtains at the little windows, and a +bright rug upon the table; and books, and the thousand little +_souvenirs_ and pretty trifles always to be found in a lady's +possession, were drawn out of trunks and boxes, and other hiding-places, +to give the room a civilized aspect. + +Still, it was not pleasant in this close-built room, with the door +shut; and open, the sand and reptiles drifted in promiscuously. It +became one of Marcelita's chief duties, in time, to examine the nooks +and corners of the apartment before closing the door for the night, to +make sure that no intrusive rattlesnake had sought admittance, and to +shake up pillows and blankets before her mistress retired, to see that +neither centipede nor tarantula shared her couch. Otherwise it was +tolerable; even young Grumpet was agreeable, though he had not been made +post-adjutant, but he was Mrs. Stanford's most favored escort in her +rides, and that made up for all other losses and disappointments. + +The country was not altogether a howling wilderness, either; though the +road that passed close by the major's quarters led into the most +desolate, the most Indian-ridden part of all Arizona, still, at a point +where the road made a sudden fall, a narrow path branched off, and ran +immediately into a little valley, where grass and wild flowers were kept +fresh and blooming, by the spring at the foot of the hill. It was an +oasis such as is frequently found in Arizona, more particularly at the +foot of the mountain ranges; and to this spot Mrs. Stanford, accompanied +by the major, Marcelita, or some one of the gentlemen, often bent her +steps, at times when no Indians were apprehended in the vicinity of the +post. The evenings at the garrison were dedicated to quiet games of +whist, or interchange of the various news of the day. On Tuesdays, these +conversations were liveliest; for the mail came in from Tucson on that +day, and letters from the different outposts and the East were received +and discussed. + +One Tuesday there was, among the official papers laid on the +post-commander's desk, an order from Department Head-quarters directing +that provision be made for furnishing quarters to a company of infantry. +Camp Andrew Jackson was to be made a three-company post, on account of +the growing depredations of the hostile tribes of Indians. It was not +until weeks afterward that any speculations were indulged as to what +company, of what regiment, had been assigned to the post; but at the +hospitable board of the major's one evening, after a late tea, it was +the irrepressible Grumpet who proclaimed that he knew to a certainty all +about the matter in question. Company "H" of the Forty-third Infantry +was coming, and had already reached Fort Yuma, _en route_ to Camp Lowell +(Tucson). + +"Then Crabtree is in command of the company; or has Captain Howell been +relieved? He was on detached service in Washington, the last I heard +from him," remarked Major Stanford. But Mr. Grumpet interrupted: + +"There you are wrong, again; Crabtree is not with them at all." + +"Why, how's that?" was asked from all sides; even Mrs. Stanford had +looked up. + +Whenever Grumpet had a good thing he always made the most of it; and it +was irresistibly charming to let Mrs. Stanford see that he knew more +than all the rest put together. + +"Ahem! Mr. Crabtree, senior lieutenant of Company 'H,' Forty-third +Infantry, has exchanged, with the sanction of the War Department, with +Mr. Addison--Charlie Addison, you know--of Company 'D,' Sixty-fifth +Infantry." + +In an "aside" to himself, he continued: "Well, I declare! I've +astonished Mrs. Stanford by my superior knowledge. Why, she's actually +staring at me." + +So she was; or, at least, her eyes were wide open, and her face was pale +as death. + +"Are you sick, Eva, my child?" asked the major; "or do you see anything +that frightens you?" + +"Neither," she answered, passing her hand over her face; "only tired a +little." + +"There," put in the doctor, "I _thought_ Mrs. Stanford had baked those +tarts and prepared the salad, with her own hands, to-day, and now I am +certain of it; and I prescribe that the gentlemen immediately depart +from here, and leave Mrs. Stanford to rest, and her own reflections." + +Her own reflections! They crowded on her fast and unbidden, when left +alone by her husband and the rest of the officers. Marcelita, after +having repeatedly assured her mistress that the house was free from +invading vermin, had settled down on the floor, with her back against +the wall, when she found that Eva paid no heed to what she said. After +awhile she grew bolder, and lighted and smoked _cigarritos_, enjoying +them to her heart's content, while Eva was enjoying "her own +reflections." + +"My dear child, did I stay out late? We all went into the sutler's a +little while, after taps. Did you sit up to wait for me?" asked the +major, kindly, breaking in on Eva's reflections. + +Marcelita had started up out of a sound sleep when the major had first +entered the room, and she rolled into her own little tent now, into her +bed, and back into the arms of the drowsy god, without once thinking of +scorpion or tarantula. + +Weeks passed before any more tidings of the Forty-third were heard; then +they entered Camp Andrew Jackson one day--not with fife and drum, and +colors flying, but silently, quietly; with shoulders stooping under the +load of knapsack and musket--packed all day long through scorching sun +and ankle-deep sand. It was not till Eva saw the line of tents newly +pitched, on the following day, that she knew of the arrival. + +"Yes," said the major, "they have come; but both Captain Howland and +Lieutenant Addison appear very reserved. I don't think either of them +will call till a formal invitation has been extended them. Perhaps we +had better invite them all to dinner some day--that will place them at +their ease to visit here, later." + +Invitations, accordingly, were issued for a certain day; but the Fates +so willed it that the horses of Company "F" were stampeded from the +picket-line by a band of Apaches, during the night preceding; and +Arroyos, the guide, expressed his conviction that he could lead the +troops to the _rancheria_ of these Indians, and recover the horses +taken. Although Major Stanford's position as post-commander would have +justified him in sending some subaltern officer, he preferred to take +charge of the expedition in person, leaving the post in Captain Manson's +hands. + +"You look pale, child," said Major Stanford, bidding Eva farewell, while +the orderly was holding his horse outside. "I am almost glad, on your +account, that the dinner-party could be put off. Your color has been +fading for weeks, and if you do not brighten up soon, I shall have to +send you back home, to your aunt." And tenderly smoothing the glossy +hair back from her face, he kissed it again and again, before vaulting +into the saddle. + +Accompanied by Marcelita alone, Eva, toward evening, set out on her +usual ramble, following the road from which the path branched off, +leading into the valley. At the point where the road falls off toward +Tucson, she stopped before taking the path that led to the spring, and +cast a long, shivering look around her. Wearily her eyes roamed over the +desolate land; wearily they followed the road, with its countless +windings, far into the level country; wearily they watched the flight of +a solitary crow, flapping its wings as it hovered, with a doleful cry, +over the one, single tree on the plain, that held its ragged branches up +to the sky, as though pleading for the dews of heaven to nurture and +expand its stunted growth. An endless, dreary waste--an infinitude of +hopeless, changeless desert--a hard, yellow crust, where the wind had +left it bare from sand, above which the air was still vibrating from the +heat of the day, though the breeze that came with the sunset had +already sprung up; the only verdure an occasional bush of grease-wood, +or mesquite, with never a blade of grass, nor a bunch of weeds, in the +wide spaces between. + +Farther on to her right, she could see the rough, frowning rocks in the +mountain yonder, looking as though evil spirits had piled them there, in +well-arranged confusion, to prevent the children of earth from taking +possession of its steep heights, and its jealously-hidden treasures. + +Grand, and lonely, and desolate looked the mountain, and lonely and +desolate looked the plain, as Eva stood there, her hands folded and +drooping, the light wind tossing her hair, and fluttering and playing in +the folds of her dress. It was the picture of her own life unfolding +before her: lone, and drear, and barren; without change or relief, +without verdure, or blossom, or goodly springs of crystal water; the +arid desert--her life, dragging its slow length along; the frowning +mountain--her duties, and the unavoidable tasks that life imposed on +her. + +With a sigh she turned from both. Before her lay the cool valley, +sheltered from careless eyes, and from the sand and dust of the road and +the country beyond. Very small was the valley of the spring, with its +laughing flowers and shady trees--like the one leaf from the volume of +her memory that was tinted with the color of the rose and the sunbeam. + +"And up the valley came the swell of music on the wind"--bringing back +scenes on which the sun had thrown its glorious parting rays in times +past, when life had seemed bright, and full of promise and inexhaustible +joy. But she brought her face resolutely back to the desert and the +mountain. + +She walked on rapidly toward the spring where Marcelita had spread her +_rebozo_ on the trunk of a fallen tree, before starting out to gather +the flowers that grew in the valley. + +Almost exhausted, Eva had seated herself on the improvised couch, but +was startled by a step beside her. Was it a spirit conjured up by the +flood of memories surging through her breast that stood before her? + +"Eva!" + +"Charlie, oh, Charlie! have you come at last?" But already the spell was +broken. + +"I cannot think why Lieutenant Addison should wish to surprise me here. +Would it not be more fitting to visit our quarters, if he felt +constrained to comply with the etiquette of the garrison?" + +"For God's sake, Eva," he cried, passionately, "listen to me one moment; +grant that I may speak to you once more as Eva--not as the wife of Major +Stanford. Let me hear the truth from your own lips. Eva, I have come +here, to this horrible, horrible country, because I knew you were here. +I came here to see you--to learn from you why you were false to me; why +you spurned my love--the deepest and truest man ever felt for woman--and +then to die." + +He had thrown his cap, marked with the insignia of his rank and calling, +into the grass at his feet; and the last rays of the sun, falling aslant +on his rich, brown hair, made it bright and golden again, as Eva so well +remembered it. + +"False!" she repeated, slowly, as though her tongue refused to frame the +accusation against him; "_you_ were false--not I. Or was it not +deceiving me--to tell me of your love; to promise faith and constancy to +me while carrying on a flirtation--a correspondence with another woman?" + +"You cannot believe that, Eva, any more than I could believe what Abby +Hamilton told me--that you had left your aunt's house without telling me +of it, purposely to avoid me and break every tie between us--till a +package, containing all my letters to you, was handed me the day we +marched from Fort Leavenworth." + +"Those letters had been taken from my desk in my absence. But I had +intrusted Abby with a note for you, when I was called to my sister's +bedside. And, was it not Abby with whom you were seen riding?" + +"Yes--to meet you at Mr. Redpath's farm; and I afterward sent you a +note, through her, to which there came no answer save that package of my +own letters." + +"Why, then, did you go from me? Had you so little faith in me, so little +love for me, that you could make no effort to see me? Was it so great a +task to write me a few, short lines!" + +"Then none of my letters have ever reached you? Oh, Eva, my darling--my +lost one--can you not feel how my heart was wrung, how every drop of +blood was turned into a scorching tear, searing my brain and eating my +life away, when day after day passed, and no tidings came from you? I +was on the point of deserting the command, of bringing ruin and disgrace +on myself, when a brain fever put an end to my misery for the time, and +I was carried to Fort Lyons, as they thought, only to be buried there. +When I returned to Leavenworth on sick-leave, I was told you were gone, +and your aunt took good care not to let me know where to find you. She +had never liked me; but I could forgive her cruelty to me, did not your +wan face and weary eyes tell me that my darling girl has not found the +happiness I should have sacrificed my own to have purchased for her." + +Eva bowed her face in her hands, and deep sobs seemed to rend her very +soul, but no word passed her lips. + +"Then your life has been made a wreck, as well as my own, Eva?" he +continued, wildly, almost fiercely. "Is it right that it should be so: +that we should be robbed of all that makes life sweet and desirable, by +the wicked acts of others? Must we submit? Is it too late--" + +"Too late," echoed Eva; "you forget that I am the wife of another. We +must submit. Do not make the task harder for me than it is, Charlie; +promise never, never to come to me again." + +"I promise," he said, kneeling beside her, and bending over her hand. +"Here at your feet ends my wasted life; for I swear to you that I will +never go back into the world that lies beyond this camp. But if you +believe now that I have been true to you and to my faith, then lay your +hand on my head once again, as you did years ago, before we part +forever." + +"Forever." For an instant the hand he had reverently kissed was laid +lovingly on his soft, wavy hair; then Eva arose, leaving him with his +face buried in the damp grass, and the shades of night fast gathering +around him. + +An orderly with a letter for Mrs. Stanford had been waiting for some +time at the quarters. It was from Major Stanford. + +"You went out with the major this morning, did you not, Tarleton?" she +asked of the man. + +"Yes, madame; and the major sent me back with dispatches for Captain +Manson, and this letter for you." + +The major wrote: "Arroyos' opinion, after closely examining the tracks +of the absconding Indians, is, that we had better wait for +reinforcements before attacking their _rancheria_. Keep Marcelita in +your room. I know how timid you are. If you prefer to have a guard +nearer to your quarters, send your compliments to Captain Manson--he has +my instructions. We shall probably return to-morrow, by sundown. Till +then, 'be of good cheer.'" + +"There are more men to be sent out to-night?" asked Eva of the +gray-headed soldier. She had always shown particular regard for this +man; so he answered more at length than he would have ventured to do +under other circumstances. + +"Yes, madame; and I heard the men say down at the quarters, that the new +lieutenant who came with the infantry was to take charge of the scout." + +"Very well; tell Holly to give you a cup of tea and something to eat. +Say to the major that I shall not be afraid to-night." + +"Thank you, madame." And with a military salute, he retired. + +Her husband's letter lay unheeded on the table, and Eva was still in the +dark when Captain Manson entered the room, some time later. Marcelita +brought candles; and the captain, pointing to the letter, said: + +"The major is very anxious that you should not feel the slightest fear +to-night. I hope you have worded your answer so that he will not have +any uneasiness on your account." + +"I sent word that I should not be afraid." + +"Nevertheless, I shall place a sentinel near your quarters, if I +possibly can. To tell the truth, Major Stanford has ordered out more men +than _I_ should ever have sent away from the post. If Arroyos was not so +confident that _all_ the red devils are engaged in that one direction, I +should have advised the major to leave more men here. But you need have +no fears." + +The sound of the bugle and the tramp of horses interrupted him. + +"The command is going out; they will reach the major some +time during the night. Can't think what on earth brought that +youngster--Addison--out here. Been anxious to go on an Indian scout, +too, ever since he came: he'll cry 'enough' before he gets back, this +time, I'll warrant you. The clang of those cavalry trumpets is horrible, +isn't it; cuts right through your head, don't it?" + +Eva had dropped her hands almost as quickly as she had raised them to +her temples; and with her face shaded from the light, she silently +looked on the cavalcade that passed along under the mellow light of the +new moon. + +She sat there long after the captain had left her; she sat there still +when the early moon had gone down, and Marcelita had closed the door +before resorting to her favorite seat on the floor, with her back +against the wall, from where she watched her mistress with eyes growing +smaller and smaller, till they closed at last. The wind had risen again, +and was blowing fitfully around the corners of the _adobe_ buildings, +causing the sentinel on his lonely beat to draw his cap firmer down on +his head. It was just such a gusty, blustering wind as would make the +cry of the watchful guard appear to come from all sorts of impossible +directions, when "ten o'clock and all is well" was sung out. A dismal +howl, as though hundreds of _coyotes_ were taking up the refrain, +answered the cry; and then the clamoring and yelping always following +the first howl was carried farther and farther away till it died in the +distance. + +Marcelita shook herself in her sleep. "Holy Virgin protect us, they are +the Indians," she muttered, with her eyes closed. + +Eva had drawn her shawl closer around her; but neither the wild night +nor the doleful music had any terror for her; she only felt "her life +was dreary," while listening to "the shrill winds that were up and +away." + +Silence and darkness had once more settled on the camp; but the silence +was suddenly rent by fierce, unearthly sounds: yells and shrieks, such +as only hell, or its legitimate child, the savage Indian, could give +utterance to; shouts of triumph and exultation that made Eva's blood run +cold with horror. Marcelita had started to her feet at the first sound, +and was tearing her hair wildly, as she repeated, in a paroxysm of +terror, "The Indians, the Indians! Oh, saints of heaven, protect us?" +The darkness was broken by little flashes of light, where the sentinels, +some of them already in the death-struggle, were firing their muskets in +warning or in self-defence. A sharp knocking on the door, and voices +outside, brought Eva there. + +"Open, madame, quick: there is no time to be lost"--it was Holly's +voice--"they have attacked the men's quarters first, and we can reach +head-quarters and the adjutant's office from this side. It is the only +safe place; but quick, quick." And between them--the man who had been on +guard near the house and the faithful Holly--they almost dragged Eva +from the room, and hurried her into the darkness outside. + +The elevation to which exalted rank of any kind raises us, is always +more or less isolation from our fellow-beings. Major Stanford's, as +commanding officer's quarters, were some distance from those of the +other officers, and the space that lay between them proved fatal to +Eva's safety. + +Every single verde-bush seemed suddenly alive with yelling demons, when +the little party had fairly left the shelter of the house behind them. + +Holly had no arms, and the other soldier had been lanced through the +body; still Eva pursued her way, and could already distinguish Mr. +Grumpet's voice cheering the small number of men on to resistance, when +a whizzing sound passed close by her ear, and the next moment she found +her arms pinioned to her body by the lariat thrown over her head, and +felt herself dragged rapidly over the ground, till dexter hands caught +and lifted her on the back of a horse. Here she was held as in a vice, +and carried away so swiftly that Marcelita's screams and Holly's +curses--heard for a moment above all the din and confusion of the +impromptu battle-field--soon died away in the distance, as her captor +urged his animal to its utmost speed. + +On dashed the horse; the angry winds tore her hair, and the spiteful +thorns of the mesquite caught her flowing robes, and rudely tore her +flesh till she bled from a thousand little wounds, but not a moan or +murmur escaped her lips. A merciful fit of unconsciousness at last +overtook her; and, when she awoke, she found herself on the ground, her +wrists fettered by sharp thongs, that were cutting deep into the +tender, white flesh. The first faint glimmer of light was breaking in +the East; and Eva could see that quite a number of Indians had met here, +and were evidently in deep consultation on some subject of vast +importance; for even the savage who was cowering close beside her, as +though to watch her, was leaning forward to catch the conversation, with +an intent and absorbed air. + +They had made their way into the mountains, as the Apaches always do +after a successful raid; for the less agile horses of our cavalry cannot +follow their goat-like ponies on paths and trails known only to the +Indians. + +Perhaps Eva was even now lying among the rocks and bowlders that had +looked down on her so frowningly yesterday at sunset; perhaps, even then +had the foe into whose hands she had fallen marked her for his prey, as +he watched and counted--unobserved by the less keen eyes of his "white +brethren"--all the chances for and against the success of a sudden +onslaught. + +From the little flat where they were halting, Eva could catch just one +glimpse of the country at the foot of the mountain; and from it she +could see--though the mist had not yet cleared away--that they must have +ascended to a considerable height. Broken, jagged rocks inclosed them on +all sides; a stunted tree or overgrown cactus, here and there, springing +into sight as the light grew in the east. A heavy dew had fallen, and +Eva was so chilled that she could not have made use of her hands, had +they been unfettered. The watchful Indian had noticed the shiver that +ran through her frame, and his eyes were fixed on her face, to discover +if consciousness had returned. But his eyes wandered from Eva's face +directly, and travelled in the direction of the narrow trail by which +they had come, winding around the wall of rock, behind which the +deliberating savages were seated in a circle, Indian fashion, their +legs crossed. At a little distance could be seen their horses, nibbling +the scant grass the mountain afforded--and one of these, perhaps, had +loosened the little stone that rolled down the side of the mountain. + +So the Indian mounting guard over Eva appeared to think at least, for he +again turned his attention to the proceedings of the council, when +suddenly there came the warning of their sentinel on the rock above +them, and simultaneously the shout of "On them, my men! down with them! +She is here! she is safe!" + +Eva's guard uttered one yell before Lieutenant Addison's ball laid him +in the dust; but a dozen arrows were already aimed at Charlie's heart. + +"Eva!" he cried, "Eva, have courage; I am coming, I am near you!" + +So near that she could see where the arrow had struck his side, and the +blue coat was fast growing purple from the blood that followed where the +arrow in its flight had made that ugly gash. So near that she could +realize how desperate was the struggle between him and the half-naked, +light-footed horde that disputed every step to Eva's side, literally at +the point of the lance. + +But the soldiers were not far behind; and with the strength that comes +only of love or despair, the young man reached Eva's side at last. She +had not fainted--much as my lady readers may upbraid her for this +omission of the proprieties--but held up her poor, fettered hands to him +with a look for which he would have laid down his life a thousand times +over. + +"You are free!" he cried, loosening her fetters with trembling hands; +"you are free! And if I have broken my promise--if I have come to you +again--I have come only to die at your feet." + + + + +_THE GOLDEN LAMB._ + + +"Oh, dear! this is one of her tantrums again!" + +"Well, she _is_ the funniest girl I ever _did_ see." + +"And it is only because I laughed at the way the forlorn old maid, whom +she calls her dressmaker, had hunched that lovely lavender till it looks +like a fright." + +"See how she's jerking it, to make it fit." + +"Hush, girls," broke in the mother; "that is not the way to improve her +disposition. Don't be watching her; look out here at the window; see the +number of sails coming in through the Golden Gate this morning." + +The view from the bay-window in the second story front, which was used +as a sitting-room for the ladies of the family, was certainly very grand +this bright December morning, when the sun, shining from an unclouded +sky, kissed the waters of the bay till they looked as clear as the +heavens above, with millions of little golden stars rippling and +flashing on the blue surface. But far more attractive to the two young +ladies, who pretended to be counting the vessels in sight, was the view +in the back-ground of the room, where a slender, _petite_ figure, with +head half-defiantly thrown back, was noting in the tall pier-glass the +effects of the changes her quick fingers made in the lavender robe, +whose silken folds were sweeping the carpet. The head was crowned with a +glory of the brightest, lightest golden hair, while the eyes, flashing +proudly from under the long silken lashes, were darker than midnight. +Yet the sparkle and the laughter of the noonday sun were in them, when +the cloud, just now resting on the child-like brow, was dispelled by a +kind word or a sympathetic touch. + +"There, Lola--it is perfect now," said Mrs. Wheaton, turning to her +youngest daughter, and thus breaking the seal laid on the lips of her +two older ones. + +Matilda, good-hearted, and really loving her sister, in spite of her +greater beauty and her "strange ways," meant to improve the opportunity. + +"Yes, indeed, Lola; and I've a good mind to let Miss Myrick make up my +olive-green after New-Year's. I really think that if I take as much +pains as you do, and go there twice a day to show her, she will be able +to fit me splendidly. Don't you think so?" + +Lola gave her sister a curious look while she spoke, her face flushed, +and after a disturbed expression had flitted over it the hardly banished +frown seemed ready to come back. "I don't know what Miss Myrick would +want with you twice a day; I don't go there twice a day, I'm sure." + +"Oh, I was only thinking--well, you _are_ the strangest girl." Miss +Matilda would have been offended, probably, had her sister given her +time; but Lola's hands were already gliding over her hair, removing +hair-pins, switches, and other appendages from the elder young lady's +head. + +"Let me show you how I mean to dress your hair on New-Year's eve," said +Lola, and peace was made. To have her hair done up by Lola was always an +object worth attaining--no one else could make Miss Matilda's angular +head appear so well-shaped as she. + +Miss Fanny meanwhile had picked up a book and thrown herself on the +lounge to read, but combs and combing material having been brought in +from an adjoining room she soon became interested in the braids and +twists with which her sister's head was being adorned. During the +progress of the work, she, as well as the mother, threw in suggestions, +or made criticisms with a freedom which sometimes caused the short upper +lip of the fair hair-dresser to be drawn up until the milk-white teeth +shone out from under it, though she responded with the utmost amiability +to the hints thrown out and the advice so lavishly given. The mother had +never allowed an opportunity like this to pass without "improving her +daughters' disposition," as she termed it--striving honestly so to do by +trying the somewhat quick temper of the impulsive, affectionate child. +Because the girl's eyes flashed fire and her lips curled haughtily when +any fancied slight was put upon her, as she thought her shy but loving +advances were repulsed, the family had come to look upon the youngest +born as having a bad disposition, when really a more amiable child than +little Lola had never grown into womanhood. + +"She's an odd one, and always has been ever since they gave her that +outlandish name," the father would say, stroking his slender stock of +reddish-white hair from his forehead till it stood straight up like a +sentinel guarding the bald pate just back of it; "she don't look like +the rest, and don't act like 'em, either, though I spent more money on +her education than both her sisters put together ever cost me." + +What he said about Lola's looks was true; the other two daughters had +inherited from him their water-blue eyes and florid complexions, while +Lola had the eyes of her mother--so far as the color went. But could the +pale, quiet woman ever have known the deep, intense feeling, or the +heartfelt, open joyousness that spoke from her daughter's eyes? Who +could tell? She had come to California in early days a sad-eyed, lonely +woman, and--she had not married her first love. + +Her name Lola owed to the only romantic notion her mother ever had, as +her father said. When the child had grown to be two or three years old, +and Mrs. Wheaton had noted but too often the dreary look that would +creep into her eyes, even at this tender age, she kissed the little one +tenderly one day and murmured, her sad eyes raised to heaven, "Dolores, +he called me, and if he be dead, it will seem like an atonement to give +the name to my pet child." Her husband, blustering and pompous in his +ways--meaning to be commanding and dignified--seldom opposed a wish his +wife decidedly expressed, never stopping to ask reason or motive; and +the Spanish children with whom Lola's nurse came in contact calling her +by this diminutive, the child had grown up rejoicing in her outlandish +name, and an unusually large allowance of good looks. + +In the meantime Matilda's hair has been "done up" and duly admired, and +Miss Fanny, loath to abandon her comfortable position on the lounge, has +just requested Lola to bring for her inspection the list of invitations +made out for the New-Year ball to be given by Mr. and Mrs. Wheaton. + +"Wonder what Angelina Stubbs will wear?" soliloquized Miss Fanny. "And +how she'll make that diamond glitter! Wonder if papa will ever give me +the solitaire he promised me?"--turning to her mother. + +"No doubt of it, if he has promised it," was the quiet reply. + +"Swampoodle was up to three hundred this morning. I should think he +could afford it." Then glancing at the list again, she continued: +"Here's young Somervale's name. I suppose Angelina will be hanging on +his arm all the evening." + +"Charles Somervale?" asked Matilda. "Papa said we ought not to have him +come; he says his salary will no more than pay for the kid gloves and +cravats he's got to buy when he attends gatherings like these, and papa +thinks it is wrong to encourage a poor young man in acquiring a taste +for fashionable society." + +"Poor or not," persisted Miss Fanny, "he's got to come, because he's a +splendid figure in a ball-room, and such a dancer! Poor, indeed! Why, +Angelina Stubbs would take him this moment, and her father would jump at +the chance." + +"I should think he would--to get rid of her domineering," laughed Miss +Matilda. "But our papa isn't a widower, and I doubt that he would give +any man a fortune to have him marry one of his daughters." + +Miss Fanny's face grew crimson with vexation. "You are very disagreeable +sometimes, Matilda. But I don't wonder at your fearing my getting +married before you, seeing that you are the oldest of the family." + +It was now Matilda's turn to get angry, but the mother's quiet, even +voice broke in and calmed the rising storm before the oldest of the +family could frame an answer. The leading question--the dresses to be +worn the night of the ball--was brought up; and when the mother turned +to consult her youngest daughter on some point, she found her no longer +in the room. + +"Where is Lola?" she wondered. + +"Gone to the matinee, probably," yawned Fanny, composing herself for the +further perusal of her novel, "and I should have gone too, if it was not +too much trouble to dress so early in the day. Dear me, don't I pity +Tilly, though!" + +"Why?" asked Mrs. Wheaton, regarding her eldest daughter. + +"She will have to sit up straight all day long with that bunch of hair +on her head. She thinks old Toots is coming to-night, and she wouldn't +for the world lose her elegant _coiffure_ and the chance of looking +pretty in his eyes." + +Before she had finished speaking her eyes were fastened on the book +again, and whatever Tilly replied about not wishing to receive a +solitaire as gift from her father fell unheeded, apparently, on the fair +Fanny's ears. + +It was a mistake about Lola's having gone to the matinee. If we follow +her we shall see her ascending one of the streets in the same quarter of +the city in which the paternal mansion--as the novel-writers have +it--stood, though in a far less fashionable part. Indeed, there was no +fashion about; for a corner-grocery, or a retail fruit-shop occasionally +made its appearance among the ranks of the generally neat houses, each +of which was provided with a flower-covered veranda, or a trim front +yard. One of them boasted of a garden and veranda both--the former set +out with well-tended flowers, the latter almost hidden under creeping +roses and trailing fuchsias. Everything about the place looked prim and +neat; even the China boy, who opened the door for Lola, seemed to have +been infected by the spirit prevailing, and his snowy apron fairly +blinked in the rays of the sun falling through the curtain of the +foliage, thinned by the cold nights of the winter season. + +Miss Myrick was in, sewing by the window, seated in her own chair, so +low that she could not see out into the garden, for fear of being +tempted to waste her time. The parlor was comfortably furnished, +homelike and tidy, though Miss Myrick occupied it most of the time with +her work. She did not often sit in the little room at the back of the +house, which really had a better light--the windows opening to the +ground--because there was another garden there, and Miss Myrick was so +passionately fond of her bright-hued pets that it once happened that the +sewing which had been entrusted to her by a cloaking establishment in +the city was found unfinished and she in the garden when the porter came +to take the garments home. Since that time she had been a great deal +stricter with herself--she never had been strict with anybody else, not +even with Charlie Somervale, when he had been left to her a romping, +frolicking boy of thirteen by his dying mother. + +She was an old maid even then, dreadfully set in her ways, as people +said, and the twelve years which had passed since then had made her no +younger. Her ways, however set, must have been gentle and good, for they +had won the boy back from the almost hopeless despondency into which his +mother's death had thrown him, and she had made of him a man such as +few are met with in our time. His mother had left him nothing, his +father having died in the mines years before, poor and away from his +friends. + +Dying his mother had said to her friend, "Find my brother; he will +provide for the boy for my sake." This, however, Miss Myrick had failed +to do for two reasons: she knew of the whereabouts of the brother only +that he was in the Indies; and had she known more she would not have +prosecuted the search, because--well, Charlie "didn't know exactly, but +he guessed that her mother had intended Miss Myrick for her brother's +wife, but the brother had declined taking stock in that mine." Charlie +was clerk in the bank, and we must forgive him some of his peculiar +expressions on the ground that "he heard nothing but stocks talked from +morning till night." + +As we are aware that the banks close at twelve o'clock on Saturdays, we +need not be surprised to see Charlie coming down the street, on the way +to Aunt Myrick's house, his home. Lola seemed very much surprised, so +much so that her face flushed when he came in at the door, just as she +was about to leave the house. After a few moments' conversation about +"the delightful weather--and this time of the year, too--nearly +Christmas--" Charlie asked permission to escort Miss Wheaton down the +street, which permission was graciously given. + +Though we should like much to remain with Miss Myrick in her cozy little +home, where nothing indicated that the mistress was compelled to earn +her bread with her needle, we have more interest in going with the +handsome young couple, moving along in front of us as if they were +treading on air. Though there is no lack of deference or respect in the +manner with which the young man leans over to whisper something into the +ear of the younger Miss Wheaton, he has yet dropped the formal address +and speech of which he made use at Miss Myrick's gate. + +"Lola," and the little hand on his coat sleeve is surreptitiously +pressed as they turn the corner of a quiet street _not_ leading to the +paternal mansion, "how can I thank my angel for the unspeakable +happiness of this meeting? The bright sun would have been shrouded in +darkness to me if you had broken my heart by disappointing me. A +thousand, thousand thanks for your visit to--my Aunt Myrick's." + +She caught the roguish twinkle in his merry blue eye, and the joyous +laugh that rang out on the air could not have offended Miss Myrick +herself, had she heard the conversation. + +"What pretty speeches," Lola tossed her head mockingly; "did you learn +them from Miss Angelina Stubbs?" and another laugh spoke of the +lightness of heart which finds food for laughter and gladness in all +harmless things. + +"I told her the other day when she joked me about my advancing +bachelorhood" (they were slowly ascending one of the hills overlooking +the bay, and it is impossible to talk fast at such a time, even for a +young man six feet tall, with black moustache and corresponding hair, +and a beautiful young lady leaning on his arm) "that I should have to +wait--till my uncle from the Indies came home; and what do you think she +said?" + +They had come to a little nook high up, where the great bustling city +was almost hidden from sight, and the bay seemed stretching out at their +very feet; the houses below them concealed by the brow of the hill. To +the right, afar off, were peaceful homesteads and gardens filled with +shrubs and trees; and whatever might have been harsh or unromantic in +the view, was toned down by the distance and the softening lights of the +mild winter's sun. + +"Well," asked Lola, seating herself on a little ledge of rock where +Charlie had spread his handkerchief. + +"She intimated, with becomingly downcast eyes, that I might find a +fortune within my grasp any time I chose it. 'Oh, yes,' said I, 'Miss +Angelina, but then, you know, it's always a venture. And besides, I have +made a vow never to dabble in stocks.' She gave me rather a blank look +at first, but thought she wouldn't stop to explain." + +Lola could only reach him with her parasol, and the blow she struck him +could not have been very severe, for they both laughed heartily the next +moment. + +"But I have really heard from my uncle in India--it was a letter sent to +my poor mother--only I did not want to tell Aunt Myrick; she never likes +to hear the name mentioned." + +"Tell me about that story," said Lola, her woman's interest in a woman's +heart-story aroused; "you once said that she had been disappointed." + +"Not she so much as this uncle whom my mother wanted to marry Miss +Myrick. It seems that he was engaged to some other young lady--some +lovely maid--but a hard-hearted wretch of a brother, or cruel, unfeeling +parent interfered--" + +"Don't speak so lightly, Charlie," pleaded Lola, her eyes filling with +tears; "it _is_ bad to have brother or parent come between yourself and +the one you love, is it not?" + +"Why, Lola darling, what has happened? Does your heart fail? Do you +already doubt your love for me, or the strength to assert it?" + +"No, no, Charlie--never fear. It is you or death; you know what I have +said," and her tiny fingers clasped his strong hand. "But you know as +well as I that papa will interfere when he discovers--" + +"That you intend to become a poor man's wife. Lola, you know the law I +have made for you--the only command I would ever lay on you," and his +voice, though tender, was firm, "when you marry me you will be a poor +man's wife, not a rich man's daughter. Not a cent of your father's +money, good and kind man though he be, will ever be brought across my +threshold, even should he be willing to give you the fortune he holds in +store for some wealthy son-in-law. There, my angel, let us have done +with tragedy and care." It was easy to make an excuse for stooping, so +as to touch her fingers with his lips. "Who knows but I shall be a rich +man yet before I claim you? I have been sorely tempted to try my luck in +something new they have just struck." + +"What? After you told Miss Angelina about your vow?" + +"But it is something truly wonderful; I have it from old Bingham +himself. He cannot go into it--at least not under his own name--and +there are only two or three others to be initiated." He was gazing +meditatively at the roof of a house that peeped out from among a clump +of trees below and far to the right of him. "There's the money I laid by +for paying on the house, and Aunt Myrick, I know, has five hundred in +the bank; if I knew I could only double it within the year--" + +"Don't touch anything belonging to Aunt Myrick, or she will instantly +conceive it to be her duty to work still harder, because you might be +unfortunate--and then what would become of the old blind woman and the +paralyzed man, and the sick family back of the grocery, and her old +gouty cat, and the boy with fits--" + +"Hush, hush--I'll not touch a cent belonging to her," vowed Charlie, +with his hands to his ears. + +The sun was sinking low, and after it had been agreed between them just +how many dances Lola was to give to strange gentlemen at the coming +ball, and how many Charlie was to claim, and how often Charlie in turn +was to dance with Miss Angelina, and how often with Fanny and Tilly, the +lovers descended the hill more slowly, if possible, than they had +climbed it, and finally parted within sight of Lola's home. + +There was to be no New Year's party at the Wheaton mansion this year. +"No!" sneered Miss Angelina, "for they disposed of the oldest old maid +at the last, and probably expect to get rid of the second at somebody +else's ball this year." + +I am sure Miss Angelina need not have sneered so, because she tried hard +enough to get old Toots herself. But that is neither here nor there; +Miss Tilly had received a proposal at that New Year's ball, and Miss +Fanny her solitaire--from her father, to be sure; but then that was +better than not to receive any. Old Toots, proud husband of the peerless +Tilly now for many months, was not old at all, and his name wasn't Toots +either. His name was Jacob Udderstrome; and in early days he had been +the proprietor of a milk ranch, and having used a tin trumpet for the +purpose of making known his coming to the more tardy of his customers, +he had been honored with the unromantic appellation without his +particular wish or consent. When the country had become more settled +Jacob sold out, and being possessed of a great deal of natural +shrewdness and a native talent for keeping his mouth shut, he had +doubled and trebled his money by simply buying up real estate and +selling at the right time. + +Fanny was still languishing for the right one; she could never think of +entertaining less than a hundred thousand, when Tilly had gotten at +least three times that amount. Father and mother seldom interfered with +any of their daughters' plans or pleasures, and only once in the course +of the past year had Papa Wheaton been seriously displeased. On this +occasion he had Lola called into the room, and demanded sternly of her +why she had refused the hand and fortune of Hiram Watson? He looked +quite fierce and kept brushing up the ridge of hair on his head stiffer +and stiffer, till at last it stood alone. Then Lola ventured to ask, +"Are you speaking of Mr. Watson the tobacconist?" + +"Tobacconist? To be sure I am; a tobacconist isn't to be sneezed at +when he's got a cool half million to back him." + +"It was not that I spoke of; I have only to say that I could feel +nothing more than respect for him; and I will never marry where I cannot +give my heart with my hand." + +"That's your notion of what's right, is it? What, do you tell me, when +I've spent more money on your education than both your sisters together +ever cost me, that you can't marry a worthy, solid man because he won't +write sentimental love-letters? I tell you--" + +He was talking himself into a rage and turning purple in the face, when +his wife entered, and, like the good, quiet angel she always was, put an +end to the interview and the father's anger with her favorite child. + +Lola told Charlie of the interview, and he thanked her for her devotion, +and strengthened her resolution by such words as only Charlie could +utter--so full of the heart's deep love and the warmth of a rich +chivalrous nature. "On Christmas day, my love," he said, "I shall be +able to step boldly before your father and claim you for my wife. I am +all but a rich man now, thanks to old Bingham's prompting and the +secrecy observed, which has left this thing entirely in our own hands. I +have the field almost to myself, and shall realize within the next three +months such a fortune as I had never dreamed of possessing." + +"Not even if that mythical uncle in the Indies had come home?" + +"Hang the uncle--no--I mean, I believe he is dead, poor fellow. I +answered his letter last year, but never heard from him again, though he +expressed the greatest longing to hear from or see some one who had ever +belonged to him. It was hard to tell him that even mother, his only +sister, was dead." + +"Poor fellow!" + +"Yes, mother used to say that he was heart-broken. Having come into the +world myself after he left it, for the Indies, I can't well remember +him; but I can feel for him now, because I know what I should do if you +could not be mine. I should break into your room at night, steal you, +and take you to the bottom of the sea with me." + +Like a romantic young lady, Lola expressed her entire willingness to +visit such a place with him; and she said it so quietly that Charlie, at +least, believed what she said. + +"Let us talk of life now, not of death," Charles went on. "If I obtain +your father's consent to our union at Christmas, will you become mine on +New-Year's day? I have a queer notion of wanting to celebrate my +marriage--to make it a feast or hold it on a feast day. I believe that +people who have determined to pass their days together should begin +their new married life with the beginning of the year. Will you assist +me in carrying out this romantic idea?" + +She called him an enthusiast, a philosopher, and a thousand other +contradictory names, but the pressure of her hand gave him assurance of +her consent to his wish. + +Christmas brought with it skies as blue and days as radiant as those for +which we sing songs of glory to Italy. The rains of the season so far +had fallen mostly at night, leaving the sun day by day to kiss the brown +hills into fresher green, after he had freed himself from the heavy fogs +of early morning. + +The Wheatons were not a church-going people, though the costliest pew at +one of the largest churches was theirs; and while Mr. Wheaton was never +known to refuse heading a subscription list for any undertaking, the +benevolence of which had been duly proclaimed in the newspapers, Mrs. +Wheaton had taught her daughters to delight in unostentatious charity. +Presuming on her father's fondness for a late dressing-gown and +slippers, on days when the observance of a religious feast or popular +holiday required that he should not be seen on California street, Lola +had intimated to Charlie her opinion as to the time the old gentleman +would probably be in the most "malleable" humor. It was with some +trepidation, nevertheless, that Charlie ascended the steps leading up to +the wide hall-door of the Wheaton mansion, after having spent the +morning in his own room, shutting out Aunt Myrick, Orlando, the cat, the +morning papers, in fact the whole world from his sight. + +It was probably owing to the unusually good humor in which Mr. Wheaton +found himself this morning, that Charlie was requested to walk into the +breakfast-room, where the flying robes adorning Miss Fanny's person were +seen whisking out at the other door, as the young man entered the +pleasant, sun-lighted room. The last glowing coals were falling to +ashes, in a grate, which at this hour of the day seemed an unnecessary +ornament for a California house. + +"Come in, come in, young man. But where are the girls? Tom, go call Miss +Fanny and Miss Lola." + +There was no necessity for calling Miss Lola--she was close at hand, +though becoming suddenly invisible; and as for Miss Fanny, she remained +invisible. She had no notion of taking her hair out of crimps just for +Charlie Somervale, when she expected to meet a far more interesting +person--Crown Point, Gould & Curry, Eureka Con., report said five +hundred thousand dollars--at the Wadsworth reception that night. Had Mr. +Wheaton not taken off his glasses when Charlie came in he might have +noticed an unusual flush on the young man's face; as it was he shook +hands with him so cordially that Charlie's color subsided somewhat, and +his heart beat less loud for a minute. + +I doubt that either the old gentleman or the young one remember just how +the conversation was opened; but in less than fifteen minutes Mr. +Wheaton, with motions something like those of an enraged turkey-gobbler, +and a color darkening face and neck fully equal to the intensest shade +that bird can boast of on its gills, flew to the door, and called on +Lola to make her appearance, in no pleasant tones. Together with Lola, +as though divining the trouble drawing near, came Mrs. Wheaton, though +so noiselessly, through a side-door, that no one observed her at first. + +"Lola," sputtered Mr. Wheaton, "I have spent more money on your +education than both your other sisters together ever cost me; and now +here comes this young fellow and tells me, as coolly as you please, that +you are engaged to him, and the like nonsense. Engaged, indeed; you are +not eighteen yet, and he hasn't got a cent to his name. I thought I had +brought up my children to love me at least, if I cannot compel them to +obedience; and if you, Lola, go off and leave me in my old age--go away +from my house with a beggar--you who have been petted and spoiled; you +on whom I had built the hopes of my declining years, you will never +darken my doors again, but live a beggar and an outcast forever away +from your parents' home." + +Mrs. Wheaton had approached the group, and Charlie turned to her. + +"It is not as a poor man that I claim your daughter for my bride; see, I +am rich--worth a hundred thousand this moment," he drew a package of +papers from his pocket; "and I have the ambition and the power to amass +a fortune, and place your daughter where she will never miss the +comforts and luxuries of her childhood's home." + +He stepped over to where Mr. Wheaton stood listening in incredulous +silence to what the young man said. + +"And may I ask from where this fabulous wealth springs so suddenly?" he +asked, breaking the silence. + +"I own to having tried my luck, against the strict advice and wish of my +employers, in mining speculations. The venture has proved successful. I +say nothing in extenuation of the fault--if fault I have +committed--save that I wanted to offer to Lola a home which should not +be too great a contrast to her father's house. Old Bingham--" + +"Old Bingham," interrupted Mr. Wheaton, purple in the face; "and the +name of the mine?" + +"The Golden Lamp," answered Charlie, proudly, holding up for Mr. +Wheaton's inspection the papers he had drawn from his pocket. + +"Lola!" shouted Mr. Wheaton in his shrillest tones, seizing the girl by +the arm and dragging her away from Charlie's side, as if the young man +had been afflicted with a sudden leprosy, "come to me, my child. He's a +beggar, I tell you--a beggar and worse; for all his friends will turn +from him for his indiscretion. The whole thing is a gull; there isn't +gold enough in the mine to show the color. Here's the paper. Where did +you have your eyes this morning?" + +Charlie stood like one paralyzed; his fingers clutched tighter the roll +of papers in his hand, and he gazed with a strange, bewildered stare +into Lola's eyes, as though trying hard to understand what the dreadful +things he heard meant. Lola seemed to comprehend quicker, and the look +she bent on Charlie was full of tender pity, as she watched the lines +that black, hopeless despair was writing on his face. Mrs. Wheaton had +snatched the paper from her husband's hand and was reading: + +"The chosen few who thought that for once they could fleece the golden +lamb driven quietly into a little corner for their own benefit, have +come out leaving their own wool behind. We are speaking of the Golden +Lamb Mine, which was to have been paraded in the market about the first +of January, to lead astray with its deceptive glitter all who were +foolish enough to believe without seeing. The few shares that had +already been disposed of 'to strictly confidential friends,' by the +shrewd managers of the concern, have gone down from five hundred dollars +to five dollars, at which figure they went begging late in the afternoon +yesterday, no one having confidence in a swindle so promptly and +completely exposed." + +"Lola," it was Charles's voice, but so changed and broken that Mrs. +Wheaton dropped the paper to look into his face. + +Lola sprang to his side, and he groped for her hand as though its +slender strength could uphold the man who but an hour before looked able +to move mountains from their place. Blindness seemed to have fallen on +his eyes, for he repeated the call when the girl stood close beside him. + +"My darling," she murmured, seizing the hand that was still seeking +hers, and, heedless of her mother's presence or her father's wild +gestures, she pressed the icy fingers to her lips, breathing broken +words of love and comfort into Charlie's ear. + +"Lola!" the name again rang through the room; it was her mother's cry, +and the sharp terror in it struck like a knife to the girl's heart, +"your father--quick! Would you kill him? Do you not see--he is dying! +Oh, my child, my child, cast off everything, but do not load your soul +with his death! God help me to guide you." There was something in the +woman's eye that spoke of more than alarm at the symptoms of an +approaching attack, such as she had always feared for the father of her +children. + +She had never loved this man with the absorbing passion of which her +heart was capable; but as she knelt by his side, giving him every aid in +her power in a frenzied, hurried manner, so different from her usual +placid ways, her wide-opened eyes seemed to look back through the +shadows and mists of long, dreary years, and she spoke wildly and +rapidly to her child. + +"Oh, Lola! don't blacken your soul with this crime--I too loaded the +curse on me; I have borne it for years--and all the useless remorse, +the vain, bitter regrets. Give up all you hold dear in life, but do not, +do not try to find your way to happiness over the stricken form of your +father!" + +Lola shook like a reed in the storm, and breaking away from Charlie she +knelt by her mother's side. + +"Father!" she pleaded, "father, speak to me--call me your pet +again--your dearest child; see me--I will never, never leave you, +father, only speak to me once again." + +No one heeded Charlie, and he staggered from the house, muttering +between his clinched teeth: + +"So they will all turn from me--and she was the first." + +Hours passed ere the old man found speech and consciousness again; and +the physician who had been summoned shook his head warningly. "It was a +narrow escape," he said; "careful, old man, careful. What is it the +Bible, or some other good book says--'let not your angry passions rise?' +Who's been vexing you?" + +Lola, his special favorite, whose eyes he had seen opening on the light +of this world, was not present, or her ghastly face might have prevented +him from asking the question. + +Mrs. Wheaton was again the quiet, sad-faced woman, solicitous only for +the comfort and well-doing of the man who had been to her the most +indulgent of husbands. It was hard to say what was passing in her heart; +perhaps the crater had long since burned out, and the silver threads +running through her raven hair was the snow that had gathered on the +cold ashes. For Lola there was neither rest nor sleep, and she insisted +on watching through the night by her father's bedside, though assured +that there was no necessity for keeping watch. + +Early the next morning she went out, not clandestinely, but with a +determined step and an expression in her eye than which nothing could be +more sad and hopeless. She returned after many hours, and though her +eyes had lost none of their dreary expression, there seemed to be some +purpose written in them that could also be traced in the lines drawn +since yesterday about the firmly closed mouth. Her mother, concealed by +the heavy curtains drawn back from the window, watched her gloomily as +she passed through the room gathering up some music that lay scattered +on the piano, as though she meant never to touch its ivory keys again. + +"Ah, me!" she sighed, "she is young to learn the bitter lesson: that +those who have a heart must crush out its love before they can go +through life in peace! Dolores--it seemed like an atonement to call her +so; but would I had not given her the fatal name. God will help her to +forget--as He has given me peace." + +The darkening eyes, straying far out over the waters, seemed for a +moment ready to belie the boast of her lips, so restless and uneasy was +their light; but the discipline of half a lifetime asserted its power, +and she went from the room, calm and self-possessed as ever. + +Little did she dream of the cause of what she deemed Lola's +uncomplaining resignation. The girl had seen her lover, and, unspeakably +wretched as he was, she could say no word to comfort him, but held his +hand in hers, with all the love her heart contained beaming from her +glorious eyes. Only once did he clasp her to his heart in a passionate +embrace: she had sealed the promise to be his, with a kiss. They would +enter on their new life together at the beginning of the year. They +would be wedded to each other on New-Year day--but the priest who +received their vows should be Death, and their marriage-bed the bottom +of the bay. + +Charlie's name was never mentioned in the Wheaton mansion; the events of +Christmas morning seemed banished from the memory of the three people +who had participated in them. There was nothing to indicate that a +change of any kind had taken place or was likely to take place. Once +only in the course of the week Miss Fanny remarked laughingly, that she +thought Lola was preparing to elope, because all her books, dresses, and +trinkets were so neatly packed together. But as no one seemed to join in +Miss Fanny's pleasantry, the young lady betook herself to her usual +pastime--the novel and the lounge. + +During the week the weather changed, and heavy storms swept over land +and sea, stirring to the depths the waters on which Lola gazed for many +a half hour with a kind of stony satisfaction. She had not seen Charlie +since the first day of the week, and she often muttered to herself, "Far +better death than a life without my love." + +At last New-Year's morning dawned clear and bright, like a morning in +early spring. At an early hour the Wheaton mansion became the scene of +great rejoicing. There was a vigorous pull at the bell, and when the +door was opened a robust young fellow made his way very unceremoniously +into the breakfast-room, and a fresh Irish voice with its rich brogue +burst out: + +"Plaize, mam, and it's a splendid b'y; and nurse says I'm not to stay a +minit, but you're to come right aff." + +Mr. Wheaton threatened to go off with joy this time, his face turned so +red. + +"A boy, mother--think of that!" he shouted, forgetting for once in his +life what he deemed his dignity, and for the first time calling his wife +anything but Mrs. Wheaton in the presence of strangers or servants. +"Pat, my boy, here's something to drink his health [Thank'ee, sur;--and +it's a half aigle, shure], but not now; mind you, go right back and stay +there till I come, or I'll skin you alive." + +After this unprecedentedly familiar and jocular speech, he turned Pat +out of doors, kissed his wife frantically and rushed up-stairs to dress, +as though the boy's life and safety depended on his taking immediate +charge of him. In the meantime the door-bell had been rung again, and +Mr. Wheaton stopped when halfway up the stairs, there was something so +frightened and excited in the manner of the lady who entered the +hall-door. + +"Miss Lola is at home, I think," said the servant in answer to her +question; and Mrs. Wheaton, crossing the hall at this moment, turned to +look at the strange woman. + +A little scream, and Miss Myrick--for it was she--asked of Lola, who +stood white and ghostly in the doorway, "Is that your mother, Lola? Oh, +then I understand it all. Poor Charlie? The woman who could--" + +Mrs. Wheaton stepped quickly forward. "Stop, Augusta Myrick; not one +word more before my child." + +Mr. Wheaton had descended the stairs, and sprung to his wife, who seemed +ready to sink, but Lola, unheeding both, clutched Miss Myrick's arm. + +"Charlie?" she gasped. + +"Oh, Lola! he's gone; his room is empty and all his papers have been +stolen or destroyed. My poor, poor boy." + +"Gone--to his death without me! How cruel--but I am coming, Charlie; I +will follow you." + +Her eyes were wandering, and she broke from Miss Myrick's grasp. + +"Hold her," cried Miss Myrick, "hold her. Charlie is dead and she is +crazed. Help!" + +Mr. Wheaton was beside himself, and Mrs. Wheaton flung her arms about +Lola, who was struggling to free herself. At last her father's strong +hands bore her to a sofa in the nearest room, and as he laid her down +the weary eyes closed and the fainting head drooped back. + +"Not dead," he groaned. "Oh, God, not dead!" and as the mother and the +strange woman bent low over the prostrate girl, a tall, manly form broke +into the room, as though led there by an unerring instinct. + +"Oh, my darling," and he knelt beside the sofa, chafing her hands and +kissing her cold brow; "wake up; you are mine, and we will not die, but +live together. Open your eyes, darling; nothing more will part us now. +See, I am rich once more, and no one shall come between us. Look up, +darling. Come back to me." + +Slowly his kisses brought a faint color to her brow and cheek; and when +she opened her eyes and he pressed warm kisses on her lips, there was +none to say him nay. Papa Wheaton was occupied with his handkerchief--he +seemed suffering from a fresh-caught cold, and Mrs. Wheaton stood with +clasped hands watching her daughter's motionless form. + +Miss Myrick alone had noticed the graybearded, sun-burned man who had +come into the house with Charlie. The stranger had gazed silently on +Mrs. Wheaton till a mist gathered in his eyes, and he said softly to +himself, "_Dolorosa!_" Then the name has been a prophecy, and my poor +Annie went through life--Dolores. + +Lola moved at last, and as Charlie lifted her tenderly in his arms, no +one stepped forward to separate them. + +"She is mine now!" he cried exultingly, and he held up to Mr. Wheaton's +view a morning paper. "It was false about the Golden Lamb, and I am +worth a hundred thousand to-day." + +"And besides," the stranger introduced himself with a courteous bow to +Mr. Wheaton, "Charles Somervale is my nephew and will be my heir. I am a +total stranger to you, so I beg to refer you to the house of Daniel +Meyer & Co." + +At the sound of the voice Mrs. Wheaton had hastily scanned his features; +then she staggered against the wall with a look on her face that spoke +so plainly of a life-long sorrow, of a pain for which there is no remedy +on earth, that Miss Myrick, forgetting all the hard feelings she had +shown at first, sprang forward and passed her arm around the falling +woman. + +"The excitement has been too much for her," she said; "leave the room, +all of you, and I will bring her to herself." + +But Mrs. Wheaton's was a strong nature. + +"It is nothing," she said, and she turned slowly to the stranger. "Let +your coming to this house on a New-Year's morning--though you knew not +who its inmates were--be an earnest of your kind feeling for them, and +let us be united in the wish for the happiness of my child and the child +of your dead sister." + +The stranger had advanced and raised Mrs. Wheaton's hand for a moment to +his lips. + +"To-morrow I take ship to return to the far Indies; but my wishes and +prayers shall always be for the happiness of these children, and--the +peace of mind of Annie--my Dolores loved and lost." + +The last words were spoken in a husky whisper, and none saw the tear +that fell on Mrs. Wheaton's ice-cold hand. Her own eyes were dry; and +though she had not lowered them, she _felt_ the tear burning its way +into her very soul. + +Mr. Wheaton's cheery voice roused her. + +"The boy, children--have you all forgotten about the boy? Matilda's son, +sir," shaking Charlie by the hand, "a fine, healthy boy. One of the +family now, Charlie--come and see." + +But who can blame Charlie for declining to go? His uncle had left the +house, and Aunt Myrick had gone with Mrs. Wheaton up-stairs, there to +renew the friendship broken off years ago, because of the lonely man who +was standing at this moment, gazing far out on the restless, +ever-changing sea. + +We could not be indiscreet enough to play eavesdropper after everybody +but Lola and Charlie had left the parlor, but we have it on good +authority that Uncle Barton is to be present at the wedding ceremony +before taking ship again for the far Indies. + + + + +_IT OCCURRED AT TUCSON._ + + +Well, perhaps it isn't much of a place, after you get there, though +harder to describe than many a town of fifty times its size and +importance. But it is the capital of Arizona, and a fair representation +of the whole Territory. Could you be lifted from the midst of +civilization, and "let down" in Tucson over night, you would know at +once what the rest of Arizona is. + +How like a _fata morgana_ it looks when you first see it in this +enchanted atmosphere: the intensely blue sky overhead, the plain about +it covered with sparse grass and fantastic cactus, that hide the sand +and make the earth look verdant; the low, white dome and the picturesque +buildings clustering about it; the _adobe_ garden-walls, with arched +gateways, sometimes whitened, sometimes left in their native mud color, +toned down by age and the glare of the sun; a tall mesquite-tree or a +group of cotton-woods striving heavenward from among the _adobe_ houses; +Saddle Mountain, with its ever-changing tints and its strong lights and +shades in the far distance, and Sugar-loaf or Sentinel Hill to the +immediate left. On the plain between town and the Sugar-loaf, the ruins +of what, in any other country, I should pronounce to have been a +monastery, lift themselves from the fresh, dewy green--venerable, gray, +and stately--some wild vine creeping stealthily in at the frameless +window, and out again at the roofless top. + +Having purposely avoided a close inspection of this spot, for fear of +being compelled to see that the ruins were only coarse mud-walls, +standing in a wilderness of hideous sand and clay, flecked with stiff +bunch-grass, the contemplation of it, with my mind's eye, is one of the +pleasures of memory to me, even at this day. Could I have avoided +passing through the streets of Tucson, perhaps I could think of it, too, +as a charming and delightful place. There are gardens down on our left, +as we come in from this side, that "blossom as the rose," and are +overshadowed by just such beautiful, waving trees as we see in among the +houses yonder; and, from these "indications," we are justified in +supposing that we will find _parterres_ of flowers in the gardens +surrounded by those high walls. But we have forgotten to take into +account that a stream of water flows along those fields; that gardens +don't flourish here without water, and that water in the town can only +be had by digging deep down into the hard ground. + +The _élite_ of the Spanish population pride themselves on their +gardens--flower-beds in the inclosed court-yards; flower-beds raised +some three or four feet from the ground and walled around with +stones--but if the flowers that grow on these elevations are "few and +far between," they make up in color and fragrance what they lack in +numbers. The court-yard is usually flagged, like the best room in the +house, and the whole is kept cool and fresh by continual sprinkling and +irrigating. This, however, is correct only of a very few houses; the +average Mexican, even though his family consist of twenty head, lives in +a single dark _adobe_ room, without window or fireplace--the hard, dry, +yellow clay within a continuation of the hard, dry, yellow clay +without--not divided even by a jealous door. In summer, the family live +inside the house, rolling around on the bare floor, or the straw matting +spread in one corner--careful not to venture into the sun that bakes the +barren ground by their _casa_ harder and harder every day. In winter, +the day is passed on the outside, the different members of the family +shifting their position with the sun--huddling together, flat on the +ground, with their backs against the wall that is warmest from its rays. +What they do for a living, I don't know: could they harvest nectar and +ambrosia, instead of wine and bread, from the land surrounding their +miserable houses, they could not be induced to till it; and, as for +trade or handicraft, they have never flourished in Tucson. The only +thing that swarthy, black-eyed lad there will ever learn, is to lasso +his starved _bronco_, or shoulder his lockless gun, and start out with +the pack-train, just loading for Sonora, in front of the largest store +in town. If he returns from there without losing his scalp, he will +never rest till the last _paso_ has been spent with his _compadres_, at +the _baila_, or the new American bar and billiard saloon at the corner. +Nor will he begrudge his sister, or any other lass to whom he is +attached, the many-colored shawl in the show-window of the American +dry-goods store at the other corner; and, should anything be left then, +he will conscientiously devote it toward promoting the bull-fight that +is to come off next Sunday. + +"Miserable people, a miserable place, and a miserable life!" came from +between the set, white teeth of a little personage at the window of a +house lying on something of an eminence, in the "fashionable" quarter of +the town, as she absently gazed on the fields, bright and alive with the +stir and the sun of this pleasant July afternoon. + +The fact of the house having windows, and the windows being set with +glass, marks it as one of the "aristocratic" houses, though the man who +built it, only two years ago, had come empty-handed and broken in heart +and spirit from scenes of desolation and wretchedness in the Southern +States. If ever a man buried hope, ambition, and life-energy with the +Lost Cause, that man was Oray Granville. Even before the rebellion broke +out, he had lost his all through the North (as he reasoned); for all +that life seemed worth living for, was the woman he had loved. A +wealthy Northern man had led to the altar the queenly form which to him +had been an embodiment of all that is graceful and divine. The form, +life, and soul seemed to have fled from the eyes into which he had gazed +just once after the binding words had been spoken. + +When the war broke out, he was among the first in the field; and, though +fighting for what he deemed his rights, he asked, at the end of each +bloody affray--as did St. Arnaud at the Crimea--"And is there no bullet +for me?" And after each such day did the look he had caught from those +sad, black orbs settle down deeper into the shadows of his own gray +eyes. Returning to the home of his youth once more, before starting out +on his dangerous journey over the plains to Arizona--where he was to +join an older brother--he found domiciled at his father's house his +cousin, a young girl of eighteen. + +In Miss Jenny's eyes, the vague rumor that Cousin Ray had been "crossed +in love" lent an additional charm to his handsome presence, and the +melancholy, half-reserved air that made him almost unapproachable. +Though there was apparently little in common between the world-weary, +disappointed man and the little elfish creature that looked so joyfully +out upon the world with her light-blue eyes, he unconsciously fell under +the influence of her restless, but most cheerful spirit. Not that her +temper was always sunny and even--far from it: but too often her eyes +would flash fire, and the quivering flanks of the fine-chiselled nose +distend and almost flatten in the hot, flushed face. Just so her Cousin +Ray's nostrils were wont to spread when angered or excited--only that +his face would grow white and more marble-like than usual. + +On what ground these two spirits met, I cannot say; but when Oray +Granville finally left his southern home, it was in company with his +wife, Mrs. Jenny. Nor can I recount, at length, how love worked +wonders, and the petted, white-fingered little lady learned to take +thought for the morrow and the comfort of her lord and master; and +though often flying into one of her sudden fits of passion, when a batch +of "sad" bread was the reward for all her pains and patience, or a burn +on her wrist or fingers, she never once breathed a word of regret at +having come with her husband. Her husband never attempted to subdue her +temper or soothe her ruffled feelings; but if, when worn out with the +day's toil (of which he bore his honest share), she crept up beside him, +he had most always a kind word for her; or, if more chary of words than +usual, a soft pressure of the little hand that had stolen into his, told +her that her affection was felt and appreciated. + +Shortly after their arrival in Tucson, he was prostrated by the horrible +fever which this place has in store for most strangers. The _petite_ +frame of the wife resisted the enemy to whom the stalwart man was forced +to yield; and with untiring devotion she watched by him through the long +days and the lonely nights. He needed sleep, the doctor said; and she +crept about like a little mouse. But, hanging over him, and listening to +his low, irregular breathing, such a terror would seize her that, +bending close to his ear, she would plead, "Ray--Cousin Ray--are you +alive? Speak to me, please." Then the heavy eyes would open for a +moment, and she remain quiet, till her fears got the better of her +judgment again. But never a look of reproach came into the weary eyes, +and never a word from the white lips, though his life had nearly been a +forfeit to her loving, but impatient spirit. + +Nor did she once fly into a passion during the long days of his +convalescence; but when he had quite recovered, she proved that she had +not left her temper behind her in the South, where he, according to her +accusation, had left his tongue. There were days in which he seemed to +live only in a dream, so silent were his lips; but the office which had +been bestowed upon him, almost against his will, was ably and faithfully +filled--though a bend of the head or a single terse sentence was given, +where other men would have deemed volumes of speech necessary. It was no +wonder that his wife flew into a rage, when, as sometimes happened, she +had recounted to him the troubles and trials of the day--which were not +few--and found, at the end of an hour's harangue, that he had neither +heard nor understood a word of what she had said, but seemed to waken +from a trance at the little pettish shake she gave his arm. Then she +would accuse him of not loving her, bewail her sad lot, and vow to grow +silent and unloving like himself. After a season of storming on her +part, and utter silence on his, she would creep back to her old place +beside him, to find her kiss returned, and any cunningly devised +question, calculated and shaped toward reconciliation, answered by him, +kindly and calmly as ever. + +One afternoon, while Cousin Ray sat in his office--silent, preoccupied, +and moody as usual--the din and confusion of an extensive dog-fight +disturbed his reveries. A cloud of dust and dogs rolled up to the +office-door, and the next moment the attorney of the Territory stood in +the street, a club in one hand and a "rock" in the other. A few +well-aimed blows soon freed "the under-dog in the fight" from his +half-dozen assailants; and with a half-sneaking, half-confident air, the +little ugly thing--part cur, part _coyote_, with a slight tinge of +sheep-dog--followed his deliverer to the office. When evening came, the +dog shyly, but persistently, followed his newly-elected master home; and +Mrs. Jenny, after first bitterly railing both at her husband and the +dog, proceeded to set supper before them with equal care and +conscientiousness. Next morning she found occasion to anathematize +Arizona in general and Tucson in particular; and, her eye falling on the +new acquisition, she instantly attacked him. + +"Get away with you! Of all things in creation you're the ugliest, and +_your_ name should be Tucson, too." + +And Tucson it was, from that day out. The dog soon learned to understand +Mrs. Jenny as his master did, only he could not be brought to endure her +bursts of temper with the same gentlemanly calmness. His meals were as +well and regularly provided as though he had a well-founded claim to the +best of treatment; and of an evening, when Cousin Ray was absent, he was +left at home, and admitted to the sitting-room, where a small piece of +Mrs. Jenny's dress-skirt was tacitly admitted to be his privilege during +his master's absence. But only during his absence: as soon as his +footstep was heard approaching from the street, Mrs. Jenny seemed +suddenly to discover the dog's proximity, and with a threatening "You +get out!" the dress-skirt was quickly withdrawn, while Tucson, made wise +by experience, would spring to a safe distance, and there flash defiance +at her, with his white teeth and his glittering black eyes. + +Last night, however, the edge of the dress-skirt had been carefully +gathered up from the floor, and Tucson, on growling his dissatisfaction, +had been turned into the cold, open hall, where he met his master with a +little whine when he came home, late, and more moody and buried in +thought than ever. Nevertheless, he stooped to pat the dog's shaggy +head, before entering the room, with a half-drawn sigh. Mrs. Jenny had +well merited the reproach she always flung at her husband, this night, +so silently and noiselessly she moved around the room. Cousin Ray cast +on her just one look--that said more than all the words she had spoken +for years; but she did not heed it, and, with another sigh, at the +remembrance of the letter signed "Margaret," which she had found in his +pocket that morning, he sought the couch where neither sleep nor peace +came to the two. Early the next morning he had gone to the office, but +returned before noon, and mounted his stout _bronco_, being accompanied +by a small number of Americans and an old Mexican guide. + +It was not the first time Mrs. Jenny had helped equip and furnish a +cavalcade of this kind, for a prospecting or mining expedition; and, +unbidden, she brought out her husband's warmest wraps and her best +stores from the larder. For a moment her cheeks blanched, as, from a few +chance words she caught, she was led to believe that the object of the +journey was the finding of the firmly-believed-in Jesuit, or Hidden +Silver-mine. But her husband volunteered no explanation; and she would +show him, for once, that she could refrain from asking questions. As he +approached and bent over her to bid her good-by, the fatal white +envelope that had so angered her yesterday, again gleamed from an inside +pocket; and, hastily drawing back, she spoke sharply in answer to his +cordial words: + +"You need _never_ come back to me with that letter in your pocket. +Never--never!" + +And, passing in through the hall-door, she saw Tucson quenching his +thirst eagerly, as preparing for a long run, at his basin on the floor. +Quick as thought she had caught him up in her arms, and, carrying him to +the door, she flung him with all her force against Cortez, who was just +moving off, with his master on his back. + +"Go along with your master, you ugly brute. _I_ never want to see you +again--never, never!" and the heavy door closed with a loud bang. + +Then she went back to her household duties, never heeding that the sun +had reached the meridian, and never pausing till material and strength +together were thoroughly exhausted. At last, after obstinately brushing +down the curls that would as obstinately spring up again, she drew near +to the window. She never knew how long she stood there; but when the +women by the _acequia_, in the tree-bordered field, away down from the +house, packed the linen they had made a pretence of washing all day, +into their large, round baskets to carry home for the night, Mrs. +Jenny--uttering her verdict on the people and the place--turned sharply +on her heel, and opened the box containing her outdoor garments. Her hat +was soon tied on, and a heavy shawl thrown over her arm, to guard +against the cool of the night that might overtake her. Pleasantly +returning the greeting that all who met her offered, she went unmolested +on her way till she reached the last huts of the Papagoes--who burrow +here, half underground, at a respectable distance from the better class +of Mexicans. From the door of a stray _adobe_, that looked like an +advance-post of rude civilization among these wicker-huts, a female +voice, in the musical language that the roughest of these Mexicans use, +called after her: + +"Holy Virgin, _señora_, are you not afraid of the Apaches?" + +But, like the youth who bore "the banner with the strange device," she +passed on, heedless and silent, to all appearances, but saying, within +her stubborn little heart, "Indians or no Indians, _I'm_ going to Cousin +Will's." + +In less than an hour's time, the barking of dogs fell on her ear, and, +though no trace of fence, orchard, or barn could be seen, she knew that +in and beyond that grove of mesquite-trees lay Cousin Will's +possessions--counted one of the finest farms in the Territory. Directly +she turned from the road into an open space, where a low, solid _adobe_ +house and two or three dilapidated _jacales_ represented a comfortable +farm-house and extensive out-buildings, to the right of which a large +field of waving corn stretched downward to the river. Back of the house +blossomed a little garden, the scarlet geranium covering almost the +whole wall; from the garden the ground fell abruptly to the water, where +a clump of willows and cotton-woods shaded a large cool spring. But the +most surprising feature of this Arizona scene was a spring-house, +which, though built of _adobe_, looked just as natural, and held just as +rich, sweet milk as any spring-house found in the Western States. + +Mrs. Jenny, however, had no time to advance to this spot, even had such +been her intention. The barking of the dogs had called a dozen or two of +swarthy little Cupids from the _jacales_ and other resorts of the +_peones_, who, with a simultaneous shout, had rushed in a body to the +house of the master, announcing the coming of the unexpected visitor. +Cousin Will and his wife--one of those grand, black-eyed women, with the +bearing of a princess, whom we find among the old Spanish families--met +the sister-in-law long before she reached the house. Cousin Will's wife +greeted her sister-in-law cordially as "Juana;" while Mrs. Jenny held to +the more formal "Doña Inez," which she had never yet dropped--perhaps on +account of a fancied likeness between her and Margaret, of whom she had +secretly begged a most minute description from one of the younger +brothers in her uncle's house, at home. + +"Why did Brother Ray let you come out here alone?" asked the older +brother, almost indignantly. + +Doña Inez, who understood English, smiled a good-humored, but expressive +smile; noticing which, Mrs. Jenny supplemented, without the least +resentment: "And, besides, he wasn't at home to try. He started out this +morning with Blake, and Goodwin, and old Pedrillo." + +"To look for the Hidden Mine of the Padres? Oh, the foolish, foolish +boy! Had I known how determined he was to go, I should not have left him +last night. Will he never stop dreaming and chasing after shadows?" + +Cousin Will was full twenty years his brother's senior; and it was, +perhaps, the recollection of the almost fatherly love he had always +shown for the younger brother that made Mrs. Jenny suddenly, when Doña +Inez had left the room, fling her hat on the floor, herself on the +lounge, and give way to the tears that had gathered in her heart all +day. Cousin Will knew her too well to offer a single word of comfort or +consolation; but when her convulsive sobs had ceased at last, he told +her, in answer to her quick, impatient questions, all he knew of the +letter, its contents and consequences. + +In the old archives of Tucson, to which Ray, by virtue of his office, +had access, he thought he had found sufficient proof of the existence of +the old silver ledge, and sufficiently clear advices of its location, to +warrant him in making a search for it. Fully aware of the many dangers +to which any party he might organize for that purpose would be exposed, +he had long hesitated--hesitated, too, partly on account of his wife's +violent opposition, and partly because there were few, whom he would +select, willing to go with him, where hundreds had already perished from +the Indian's arrow and the want of food and water. Three days ago, the +letter from Margaret had found its way to him. She was not long for this +world, she said, and, poor and in distress--abandoned by her husband, +who had been beggared by the war--she pleaded that Ray should care for +the two children she must leave to the cold charity of strangers, if she +died. + +"What will you do about it?" his brother had asked. And then Ray had +unfolded to him what the brother called one of his day-dreams. He would +find the mine, load Jenny with the treasures its discovery would bring, +and send her back to the States, to find Margaret, or the children (if +she were dead), while he remained behind to develop and finally dispose +of the mine, before joining his wife. He knew what Jenny had undergone +in this country, for his sake; he knew how well she loved him, and he +trusted that, with her noble instincts, she would aid him in carrying +out his projects in regard to Margaret and her children--neither of whom +he ever intended to see. + +Since she had once given way to softer feelings, Jenny's better self +arose against the hard, cruel spirit that had prompted her to turn from +all of Ray's attempts at kindly explanation. Bitterly she regretted the +harsh words she had uttered when her eyes first fell on that miserable +letter; and, like serpent's fangs, the words she had called after him on +parting, struck again and again into her own bleeding heart. Restlessly +she tossed on her bed all night--the first to discover the approach of a +band of Apaches, from the uneasy stamping and the frightened wickering +of the mules--she was the only one who insisted that Tucson's bark could +be heard among the gang of _coyotes_ that made night hideous with their +howls. With the first gleam of the coming day she was up; and, in spite +of all her brother-in-law could say, in spite of the suspicious +footprints that marked the ground in the neighborhood of the +mule-_corral_, she started for home, alone and unprotected, as she had +come the night before. + +The gorgeous sunrise had no charm for her; unheeding, her eye passed +over the landscape, that was like the smile of a fair, false woman--soft +and alluring to the eye--a bright mask only, veiling death and +destruction from those who were blinded by it. When near the town, a +small, ragged-looking object came ambling swiftly toward her. + +"What--Tucson?" and then, apostrophizing the dog, who crouched in the +sand at her feet with a pitiful whine: "You mean little deserter! +Couldn't you hold out as long as your master? And I know your master has +not come back yet." Nor _had_ he--though she entered the house with an +insane hope that she might meet the grave eyes peering out from the +gloom of the darkened hall. After another sharp reprimand, she prepared +Tucson's breakfast from a part of her own; and then flew into a passion +and drove the dog from the house, because, instead of tasting a +mouthful, he insisted on dragging her to the door by the dress-skirt, +and barking and howling in turn, when she refused to come. + +Later in the morning, when she had occasion to go "down town" for +something, she recounted how the dog had shrunk from the fatigues of the +prospecting-trip, and had returned to his comfortable quarters at home. +"But I drove him from the house; and I guess he has gone to overtake his +master now--I don't see him around any more." + +He _had_ gone to overtake his master--but not alone. The dog's strange +bearing had excited suspicion--here, where people are always on the +alert for danger and evil of all kinds. Before the sun was well up, a +little band of well-armed citizens was on the trail that Oray Granville +and his friends had travelled but the day before. + +Well for Jenny that her eye never caught the meaning of the looks thrown +on her as she passed through the straggling streets back to her own +home; well for her that the soft-voiced _señoras_, who came to her in +the dusk of the evening, could check the word of sympathy that rose from +the heart to the lip. Ah, me! + +And in Jenny's voice there was a new tone; a new light was in her eye, +and--a new greeting in her heart for Cousin Ray. If he would only come +soon! Of course, he could not return for a day or two; perhaps not for a +week; but when he did come-- + +"Petra," said Jenny, "you must play me Oray's favorite air +to-night"--and she hastened to the corner where the harp of the girl, +who was a pet of Mrs. Jenny's, and Ray's too, was generally kept. + +"No, _señora_--no; not this night," remonstrated the girl. "The wind +howls so dismally--and there is no moon in the sky; and then, you know, +I cannot sing." + +Petra was whimsical, and what she said was true: the wind passed with a +low, sobbing sound through the bare, wide hall, and swept up to the +door, where it shook the lock as with living fingers. + +Mrs. Jenny drew back the curtain and laughed. + +"In our country, people don't like to own that they're moon-struck; but +you are right--the night is black as ink, and--why--there is quite a +company coming up the hill toward us, with lights and torches. Going to +the governor's house, probably; but who can they be?" + +"We can slip out of the back-door, directly, and look over to the house: +then the men cannot say that we have undue curiosity," suggested Anita, +desperately; and Mrs. Jenny dropped the curtain. + +Petra's blanched face drooped low, over a book she had snatched up from +the table; and Anita's hands were clasped in a silent prayer to the Holy +Virgin. But the train came nearer, and--"Hark! they stop here--at this +door--it is Ray--Cousin Ray!" And Jenny was on the threshold--where half +a dozen gloomy, earnest faces met her gaze. + +There was a horse there, too--stamping with a half-frightened motion, +and a low, shivering neigh; and as she sprang forward with a shriek--a +terrified question rising unconsciously to her lips--a dog flew at her +with an angry howl, tearing at her garments, and making frantic efforts +to prevent her touching the motionless form on the back of the horse. + +To Jenny's ear the dog's wild yells spoke terribly plain her own cruel +"Never--never--never!" but among the men there was a hasty murmur that +the beast had gone mad, from running so long without food and water. +There was a flash and a sharp report--Tucson's career had come to a +close. And Jenny lay fainting in the arms of the sobbing women. + + + + +_A BIT OF "EARLY CALIFORNIA."_ + + +That many strange and wonderful things happened in early times in +California, is so trite a saying that I hardly dare repeat it. As my +story, however, is neither harrowing nor sentimental, I hope I may +venture to bring it before the reader. + +Long before the great Overland Railroad was built, there entered one day +one of the largest mercantile establishments in San Francisco a +handsome, athletic man, whose fresh, kindly face showed a record of +barely five-and-twenty years, and whose slender fingers belied the iron +strength with which he could hold and tighten the threads forming the +net into which malefactors are said, sooner or later, always to run. If +he _was_ a detective officer, he had friends, because he had a warm +heart; and in spite of all the dark phases of life that were brought to +his notice every day, he had not learned to disbelieve in the bright +side, or the better instincts of humanity. + +The chief clerk of this establishment was Captain Herbert's (the +detective officer's) most intimate friend, and he had come to bid him +good-bye--perchance to charge him to guard the "fatherless and the +widowed," should the trip on which he was about to start out end +disastrously to him. "Early Californians" realized, better than any +other class of people, the uncertainty of life--particularly with those +who had to cope with the desperadoes of that time; and the captain +intended to start out as usual--with the determination to do or to die. + +"By-the-by," said young Taylor, laughing, to the senior partner of the +firm, studying the morning paper in the counting-room, "Mr. McDonald has +been silent for so long that I think it would be a good job, and an +economical one, to commission the captain to hunt up the junior partner +of this firm, at the same time, and bring him in with the absconding +cattle-agent." + +The old gentleman took off his glasses, and folded the paper. + +"Yes; it's time Harry was home. I'm really getting uneasy about him. +They may have tempted him with the prospect of a whole string of wives +as he passed through Salt Lake--whereas here he can have only one." + +"Give me his _carte-de-visite_, or the color of his hair and eyes, +height, breadth, and weight, and I'll bring him, sure!" laughed the +captain. + +"Thank you kindly, captain; but I don't know whether Mr. McDonald would +appreciate your kind attentions; particularly," continued the old +gentleman, "if enhanced by those little steel bracelets you bring into +requisition sometimes." + +Twenty-four hours later the captain was hurrying, as fast as the +stage-horses could run, to Salt Lake City, where, it was surmised, the +dishonest cattle-agent would be found. A few hours' vigorous hunt +convinced the captain that the object of his search was not +there--circumstances pointing backward to one of the smaller places he +had passed on his journey thither;--and the next stage that left had the +captain for its occupant again. The only other passenger beside the +captain and his one man, was a rather slender, well-built person, who, +like himself and assistant, had both hands full, literally, to keep from +being buried by the sides of bacon with which the stage was filled +almost to overflowing. + +When night set in, the coats of the captain and his man, and the +woollen shirt of their travelling companion, seemed all to have been +made of the same material, thanks to the equalizing gloss which the +tumbling sides of bacon had spread over everything; but they fought the +pork as valiantly as ever true-believing Israelite had done. There was +little rest for them through the night, and no sleep; the treacherous +bacon-sides, that had been closely packed to serve as pillows, would +unexpectedly slip away from under their weary heads; and the bacon +barricades, laboriously built, would descend like an avalanche of blows +and hard knocks, when left unguarded by the drowsy travellers. + +Luckily the bacon was left, the next morning, at a little town where it +was wanted more than in the stage coach; and the captain, who had passed +nothing on the road without casting on it at least half of his keen, +official eye, gathered enough information here to feel confident of +finding his game in one of the little new places springing up on the +mail-line in Nevada. They reached the place next day at nightfall--it +was near the border of California--and the captain saw at a glance that +it would be warm work to cage any of the ill-favored birds who flocked +about this place. Warm work it would have been under any circumstances: +but made more difficult by the fact that the man in question had +absconded from his employers in British Columbia somewhere, had merely +passed through San Francisco with his plunder--some thirty-six thousand +dollars--and could have defied all the law officers in California, if +they came, as the captain did, with only the commission of the +victimized cattle-owner, but without the authority that the existing +relations between British Columbia and the United States made necessary. + +Among the gamblers and roughs loafing about the hotel, the captain's +quick eye had soon lighted on the right man; and after quietly taking +his supper with his companions, he proceeded to arrest him. Of course +there was an outcry and a hubbub among the patrons of this hotel, and +the captain, who knew where his customer came from, gave the guilty man +to understand that lynching a man who was no better than a horse-thief, +was nothing unusual in California and Nevada; but that if he, the +prisoner, would promise to remain quietly up-stairs in the room with the +captain's man, he himself would go back into the bar-room and try to +persuade the people to desist from carrying out any horrible plans they +might have formed. The prisoner seemed to feel weak in the knees; asked +permission to lie down, and sadly but gently extended his hands to the +alluring steel wristlets which the captain persuasively held out. +Returning to the bar-room, the latter singled out the head bully, +approached him confidentially, and whispered that on him he must depend +for assistance in keeping his obstreperous prisoner from breaking away; +that he himself and his assistant were so tired out with a three-nights' +ride and the fruitless chase, that they could hardly keep their eyes +open; and that after seeing the landlord he would return and consult how +they had best manage to keep their man safe. + +From there the captain went straight to the room of the stranger who had +come in the stage with him; to him he told all the circumstances of the +case, and asked for his help. He was not mistaken in the man; and the +stranger at once expressed his determination to aid the side of the law +and the right. Proceeding together to the room of the prisoner, the +captain's assistant was instructed to procure, as secretly as possible, +a conveyance for himself, the stranger, and the prisoner, to the next +town--already in California--some thirty miles away. Then there were +more dark fears expressed concerning mobs and lawless proceedings, and +hints thrown out, suggestive of the contempt in which horse-thieves and +the like were held, and a clump of trees was spoken of, that stood close +by the hotel and had been found convenient for hanging purposes before +this. The stranger was left to guard the prisoner, and the captain made +his way to the bar-room, where he was examined in the most friendly and +patronizing manner, concerning "that little affair;" how much money the +man had taken, whether the captain had yet recovered it, and what he +meant to do next. Not a cent of the money had been recovered as yet, the +captain said (with thirty-five thousand dollars neatly tucked away about +his person), but he hoped that with good help--winking at the most +ill-favored among them--he would get both the man and his money safely +into California. He was not sparing in treats, and had the crowd drink +the health and success of everybody and everything he could think of, +till at last, apparently overpowered with sleep, he beckoned the rowdy +he had spoken to before to one side. Familiarly tapping him on the +shoulder, he said, trustingly: + +"Now, old fellow, remember, I depend on you, should any of these rascals +here make an attempt to assist my man in getting away from me. I'm tired +to death, and if you'd sit up for an hour or two longer, while I take a +short nap, I'd take it as a great kindness. At all events, I shall +handcuff my prisoner and myself together, so that he cannot leave the +bed without my knowledge." + +The man swore a thousand oaths that he'd see the captain out of this, +and then returned to his companions--to plot the release of the thieving +cattle-agent, who, he felt certain, still had the stolen money about +him. Tired out and sleepy, the captain certainly was; and, after +barricading the door with as much noise as possible (having previously +nailed boards across the window with a great deal of hammering), he lay +down, and was soon in a sound sleep. Sometime after midnight he was +aroused by loud, heavy blows on the door. Of course, the captain knew +who was there, and what they wanted, just as well as though each member +of the rowdy delegation had sent in a card with name and object of the +visit engraved thereon. After considerable parleying, and some "bloody" +threats, the barricade was slowly removed, the door opened, and the +captain discovered, admiring a very handsome six-shooter in his hands. +His confidential friend, the bully from the bar-room, was spokesman of +the gang; and, after some hard staring and harder swearing, the truth +dawned on the minds of these worthies, and they withdrew from the room +to search the rest of the house before taking farther measures. + +The captain resumed his broken slumbers, never dreaming that they would +carry proceedings any farther; but next morning, seated on the stage +beside the driver, he saw on the road the wreck of a turn-out, and +grouped about it a number of the would-be liberators of the night +before. They had "raised" a team somewhere, and had started in pursuit +of the fat prize, hoping to outwit and outride justice for once. The +night being dark and their heads very light, they had run full tilt +against a tree in the road, which had the effect of killing one horse, +stunning the other, and scattering the inmates of the wagon +indiscriminately over the ground. Bully No. 1, and two stars of lesser +magnitude, insisted on mounting the stage; and, on arriving at the next +town, the captain, fearing that the local authorities would interfere on +the representation of these men, had his prisoner on the road again +before they had time to take any steps, either legal or illegal. + +The horror of the prisoner can be imagined when he learned that these +terrible men, who were trying to get him out of the captain's hands in +order to mete out justice on their own account, were actually pursuing +him--probably with a rope ready to slip around his neck at the first +opportunity. He earnestly besought his protectors not to abandon him; +for the captain had told him that he had no right to hold him as +prisoner, and should have none until certain formalities had been gone +through with in San Francisco. + +On they flew--without rest--still pursued by the three roughs, who +seemed to have gotten their spunk up when they found that the captain +was determined to escape from them with the man and the money they +wanted so much. At last Sacramento was reached, and with it the highest +pitch of danger. The prisoner was informed that the men were still +following him, and that they would probably make an attempt to take him +on the way from the hotel to the boat that was to carry them to San +Francisco. All this was strictly true. Captain Herbert had only omitted +to mention the fact that there would be among the number of captors a +member of the Sacramento police, to which both the roughs had applied, +setting forth that the man was illegally restrained of his liberty, etc. +The prisoner shook in his boots, and probably wished in his heart that +he was safely back in British Columbia, with the cattle unsold, and his +employer unrobbed. What was to be done? Time was flying, and he _must_ +be gotten on to that boat, or he might never see San Francisco; so +feared the captain as well as his prisoner. + +Again it was the intrepid stranger and travelling companion who came to +the rescue. The captain's plan was "hatched" and carried out in a very +little while. With a pair of handcuffs clasped on his wrists, and his +arms securely tied behind, the obliging stranger was led to the boat by +the hard-hearted captain, who handled this free-will prisoner very +roughly--while the guilty cattle-agent was slinking along with +unfettered hands by the side of the captain's assistant, to whom he +"stuck closer than a brother." Just as the captain was hustling his +prisoner on to the gang-plank, a policeman stepped from the crowd, laid +his hand on the man's shoulder, and, amid the cheering of the roughs and +the angry protestations of the captain, led him to the office of the +nearest justice. The _bonâ fide_ prisoner in the meantime slipped +unnoticed on board, and was taken out of the cold, and kindly cared for +on reaching San Francisco, by the proper authorities, who had been +summoned to meet the boat, by a telegram from the captain. + +An excited crowd had gathered around the door of the office into which +the stranger had been brought. The intense disgust of the roughs can be +better imagined than described when their eyes and ears convinced them, +very much against their will, that their benevolent purposes could not +be carried out, and that _this_ "prisoner at the bar" had never +absconded with anybody's money. They listened in dogged silence to the +man's declaration that, far from being restrained of his liberty, he had +come with the captain "just for fun," and had worn the handcuffs because +they were just an easy fit. + +"And what is your name!" thundered the enraged justice. + +"Henry Fitzpatrick," was the quiet reply, "merchant, from San Francisco. +I fell in with the captain at Salt Lake, where I was stopping on my way +home from the States; and as he's a mighty clever fellow, I thought I'd +go all the way with him. Sorry you detained us, gentlemen--we both had +urgent business in San Francisco." + +He went his way in peace, though the real sinner--the thieving +cattle-agent--had never been in as much danger of coming to harm at the +hands of these men as was this inoffensive person. + +The captain saw no more of him till a day or two after his return to San +Francisco. Entering the store of his friend Taylor, to tell him of his +safe return, he was surprised to see the stranger, Mr. Henry +Fitzpatrick, in the counting-room. The senior partner greeted him with: + +"Well, well, captain, so you brought Harry home with a pair of handcuffs +on, after all! Allow me to introduce my partner, Mr. Henry Fitzpatrick +McDonald." + +"Happy to meet you again, captain. It _was_ fun, wasn't it, though? But +I didn't think it was necessary to give those inquisitive chaps at +Sacramento the benefit of my full name. I did not want them to say, in +case I should ever run for office, that 'McDonald had been led through +the country with a pair of handcuffs on.'" + + + + +_HER NAME WAS SYLVIA._ + + +"San Mateo! Stages for Pescadero and Half-Moon Bay!" shouted the +conductor, and a dozen or two of passengers left the uncomfortably +crowded car. + +Some of them entered the handsome equipages in waiting, to carry them to +luxurious country residences; a few sought their cottage in the suburbs +on foot; others, armed with satchels, shawls, and field-glasses, +clambered into and on the stage. Among these, a young lady--whose glossy +braids and brilliant eyes were not altogether hidden by a light +veil--stood irresolute, when the polite agent addressed her, "Have a +seat outside, Miss--with the driver? Very gentlemanly person, Miss; +ladies mostly like to ride with him." Her indecision was abruptly ended +by the gloved hand of the driver, reaching down without more ado and +drawing her up, with the agent's assistance, gently, but irresistibly, +out of the crowd and confusion below. + +For the first five miles the young girl saw nothing and knew nothing of +what was on or in the stage; her eyes were feasting on the scenery, new +to her, and fascinating in its beauty of park-like forest-strips and +flower-grown dells, where tiny brooks were overhung by tangled brush and +the fresh foliage of maple-tree and laurel-wood. The sunshine of a whole +San Francisco year seemed concentrated in the bright May morning; and +the breeze stirred just enough to turn to the sunlight, now the glossy +green side of the leaves on the live oaks, then the dull, grayish +side--a coquetry of nature making artistic effects. + +At Crystal Springs our friend suddenly became aware that she had thrown +aside her veil, and a deep blush covered her features when she saw a +wonderfully white hand reaching up with a cluster of roses, evidently +meant for her acceptance. The rustling of the trees, the sound of water +splashing, the sight of birds, coming in flocks to drink at the +fountain, had so held her senses captive, that she did not even know how +long they had been stopping at this place; but the bunch of roses, and +the deep blue eyes looking up into hers, recalled her to reality. Had +she not looked into these eyes before? Had not the stage-driver just +such a long, tawny moustache? And was this he, offering the flowers with +all the courtliness and easy self-possession of the gentleman? All these +thoughts flashed through her brain in a second, and she shrank, +momentarily, from what seemed a piece of presumption on the part of the +man. But a glance at the sad eyes, and the barely perceptible play of +sarcasm around the firm-closed lips, induced her to bend forward and +accept the offering, with a grace peculiarly her own. + +Not a word was exchanged after he had remounted his seat; but since her +veil was dropped she noticed that there were others on the outside of +the stage beside herself. There was a female with a brown _barège_ veil, +and a big lunch-basket on the seat back of her, who had been most intent +on studying how the young lady could possibly have fastened on those +heavy braids, that they looked so natural; whereas hers were always +coming apart, and showing the jute inside. And there were the two +tourists--English people probably. They had never disturbed her yet by a +word of conversation. Then her thoughts travelled to the inside of the +stage, and her eyes rested uneasily for a moment on her neighbor, the +driver. Had she only dreamed of the white, well-shaped hand? Large, +heavy gloves were on his fingers, and covered the wrist with a stiff +gauntlet. Just as stiff was the brim of the light-colored hat; and it +was so provokingly put on that nothing was visible from under it but the +end of the long moustache. + +But she was soon lost in thought again, and in contemplation of the +placid blue ocean, that suddenly shone out beyond the low hills, away +off to the right. + +"Das Meer erglänzte weit hinaus--" + +She turned with a start, to see whether she had dreamed this too, or +whether a voice at her elbow had really hummed it--and was just in time +to see the driver gather up the lines of the six horses closer, while he +strove hard to banish the guilty color from his face. + +A stage-driver, who offered her roses with the air of a cavalier of the +_ancien régime_, and sang snatches of German music. It made her more +thoughtful than ever; and when they reached Spanishtown, and had taken +dinner, she had decided on what course to pursue. The driver was on hand +to assist her back to her lofty perch, but she said, with perfect +_sang-froid_: + +"I think I should prefer to ride inside for the rest of the way; the sun +is too hot outside." + +Perhaps she had feared to see an expression of wounded feeling on the +bronzed face, but it was rather a quizzical look that shot from his eyes +as he answered: + +"No sun after this; fog from here out--depend upon it." + +Her face relaxed. "I don't know that I want to be enveloped in a +fog-cloud, either;" but she placed her foot on the wheel, and, without +another word, she was assisted back to her old seat. The ice was broken, +and the fog that soon rolled in on them did more to thaw it away between +them than the sunshine of the morning had been able to do. + +After awhile she told him that she was on her way to visit an uncle and +aunt, who had taken up their residence at Pescadero, and that she meant +to make them many a visit, as she was fond of them, and they petted her +to her heart's content. And she liked the country, too. Then he told her +of the pebbles to be found on the beach near Pescadero, and of the +attractions of the sea-moss, at a point more distant; and he hoped that +he might always have the pleasure of carrying her through the country, +whenever she came this way. + +"Uncle shall surely let you know when I am coming back, so that I may +come with you," she said; "but what is your name?--so that he can find +you out." + +"Jim!" he replied, grimly, pulling his hat far down over his eyes, +apparently indifferent as to the impression his abbreviated appellation +might make on her. Then, with a touch of sarcasm in his voice, he asked, +"And yours?" + +"Stella," she answered simply; and they both laughed, and she fastened +the roses in her hair before they came to the end of their journey, +which had on the whole passed off so pleasantly. + +So pleasantly that Stella reverted to it when in Aunt Sarah's +comfortable sitting-room, where Uncle Herbert was allowed to smoke his +after-dinner cigar. + +"I should like to go back with the same driver; his name is Jim. Do you +know him, uncle?" she continued, with the most innocent face, in which a +sharper eye than Uncle Herbert's would nevertheless have detected a +somewhat heightened color. + +"They have nicknamed him 'The Duke,'" he replied, knocking the ashes off +his cigar with a thoughtful look, "and they say he is quite a character. +Proud and unapproachable, but the best driver on the road, and, so long +as no one interferes or asks questions about himself, perfectly +obliging, and courteous in his manners." + +After the usual round of dissipations, consisting of a sea-bath for the +more venturesome, a visit to the pebble-beach, a more extended tour to +gather sea-moss, Stella was ready to return to San Francisco. To both +aunt and uncle she imparted her design of soon revisiting Pescadero, for +the purpose of exploring the distant hills, with their dark forests, +where the redwood was said to reach a circumference of sixteen feet, +which the wise little lady would not believe till her own eyes had +proved it. The old couple were without children, and nothing could be +more welcome than the niece's prospective visits. + +Stella thought she could see a sudden light flash over the gloomy face +with the sunburnt moustache when she came out of the waiting-room to +mount the stage, for she naturally wished to view in the light of the +morning sun the scenery on which the evening shadows had lain when she +came. Not that she saw much of it, after all; the fog prevented her from +seeing what her veil did not shut out. But the sun breaking through the +fog suddenly and driving it back, the sky became clear, her companion +said, "heaven smiled once more;" and while he spoke he was careful to +manipulate the veil she had dropped, in such a manner that it found its +way into his coat-pocket, from where, he was determined, it was not to +be unearthed till the steeples of San Mateo should come into sight. + +He listened with such an air of interest to Stella's recital of all she +had seen, that it did not strike her till after a long while that she +had really sustained conversation altogether on her side; and when she +grew quite still after this, he made no effort to draw her on or speak +himself. But when they approached the long, steep bridge across the +Toanitas, and rolled along close by the sea, where the waves dashed +against the crags with angry roar, through which there wept and moaned a +bitter grief and sighed a forlorn hope of peace to come, he pushed his +hat back with an impatient motion, and, gazing moodily into the waters, +he muttered: + +"Bleib Du in Deinen Meerestiefen Wahnsinniger Traum." + +"Do you really read Heine in the original?" she asked, quickly. + +"And only a stage-driver," he returned, with the old sarcasm, seeing +that she hesitated. "Yes; I read Heine in German--or did. I read nothing +now. I drive stage." + +There was painful silence; an apology would have made matters worse; but +seeing the grieved expression on her face, he continued, in his gentlest +voice, "You say you are coming this way again in the course of the +season--coming with me--in my stage? You wonder how I came to be +stage-driver; when we are better acquainted, and you think it worth +while to remind me of my promise, I will tell you my story." + +"And forgive me now?" she asked, extending her hand. The glove came off +his right hand, and the fingers that clasped hers were not less white +and soft, but strong they looked--strong as iron. "Thanks," she said; +and he felt, somehow, that she wanted her veil just then, and he +pretended to discover it, by chance, on the seat. + +In the course of the season she came again--more than once--coming +always when she knew she would meet his stage at the San Mateo depot. + +One bright day in October, when, after the drought of the long summer, +the earth had been refreshed by generous autumn showers, Stella again +sat beside him, high up, on the driver's seat. The same azure was in the +sky, the same deep blue on the waters; it was all as it had been the day +she first saw the tangled wildwood by the brook, the spreading live-oak +by the roadside--only, the foliage on the brush had changed its colors +to deep-red and yellow. + +"You once said," began Stella, timidly--for she had learned that his +temper was very uneven--"that if I reminded you of your promise when we +were better acquainted, you would tell me your story." + +He turned and looked steadily into her faltering eyes a moment, then +drew his hat down over his brows, and commenced, without further +preliminaries: + +"Her name was Sylvia--and her eyes were as deep as a well; so deep that +I don't think I ever quite fathomed them. When my mother died, she said +we were both young, and we must not be married until at least a year had +passed over my mother's grave. I was touched with the sympathy she +displayed on this sorrowful occasion; so was my father. I was his only +son, and would undoubtedly fall heir to his wealth--great wealth--after +his death. I had grown up as rich men's only sons generally grow up; had +visited schools, colleges, universities; was called good-looking, a +clever fellow generally, the best driver of a four-in-hand, the best +shot--in short, a great catch for any girl to make. Sylvia told me so +herself often. But, after all, I was only the son, you see, and my +father might live for twenty years longer, and if Sylvia married me, she +married only a prospect--whereas, if she married my father, she was the +wife of a wealthy man at once. I had not been brought up to business +habits, as Sylvia pointed out, and if my father ever became displeased +with me--of which he showed strong symptoms about this time--I should be +thrown on the world with a wife as helpless as myself, and as poor. For +Sylvia, though brought up among aristocratic relatives, was as poor as a +church mouse. What need to make many words? She married my father before +the year was out, and I left home secretly on the morning of their +wedding-day, with never a cent of the riches which had bought my +best-beloved to be my father's bride--never a dollar of all the wealth I +had been taught to look upon as my own. + +"For years I read in every Eastern paper that happened to fall into my +hands the promises of reward to any who might bring tidings of me--dead +or alive--to my father; but I never could tell: Was it his own heart +that urged him to this long continued search, or was it she that felt +some slight compunction at having driven the son from the father's +house? There are officious people everywhere--greedy people--who will do +anything for money. One of these soul-sellers, worming himself into my +confidence when sick and broken from unaccustomed labor, strung together +what might have passed with others for the ravings of a delirious +patient, and wrote my father of my whereabouts and occupation. Before I +had recovered, my father was with me, urging me with much kindness, I +must say, to go with him, if not to his home, at least to the city, +where he proposed to set me up in business for myself, in case I was too +independent to live under his roof. + +"His wife's health, delicate since her marriage, had been so much +benefited by the climate of California that she advocated their +remaining here, and he intended to settle in San Francisco. I thanked +him for all his kindness--I did, indeed; he is a weak old man, but he +had been an over-indulgent father to me in my boyhood, and why should I +harbor an unkind feeling against him? But I would not go with him. He +said I was taking a cruel revenge on him. That is not so, however--or do +you too blame me for being a stage-driver?" He bent down toward her +quickly and raised her face with his hand. There were tears in her eyes, +and his arm stole around her as gently as though he had forgotten about +the six horses he was guiding with his other hand. + +Don't be shocked, reader; there was no one on the outside of the stage +but these two. And supposing even that he had pressed her head to his +breast and kissed her forehead; no one saw it, or made remarks about it, +except the sea waves, and they seemed rippling all over with good nature +and laughter, and rejoicings at the new light in the man's eyes, and the +tears and the smiles in the woman's. + +For a long while neither spoke; but when the stage halted he lifted her +down so tenderly, and she looked up into his face so confidingly, that +words seemed unnecessary between them. Then he went his way, and Stella +knew that she must not expect to see him again till she should be ready +to return to the city; for neither Uncle Herbert nor any one else in the +place had ever succeeded in enticing him to visit their homes. + +But when he assisted Stella into her usual place on the morning of her +departure for San Francisco, his eyes told her that his thoughts had +been with her all the days since relating to her "his story." He had not +encouraged any one else to ride on the outside; and once clear of the +town, he touched Stella's hand with his lips, drew it through his arm +and pressed it, very much, I am afraid, as any ordinary lover might have +done. But when the fog rolled away, he sent out his clear baritone to +greet the sun-kissed ocean, and the burden of his song was once more: + +"Das Meer erglänzte weit hinaus!" + +And the hat was not drawn down over his face when she turned to him, and +his eyes were like the ocean, dark-blue, and a sunny light laughing in +them. + +"It is my farewell to the sea," he said, gayly. "I am never coming back +again. I am going to San Francisco, turn 'gentleman,' put on 'store +clothes,' and enter the ranks of respectable business men." + +She laughed as he straightened himself and put on a severely sober face, +and he relaxed and urged his horses on with a smart cut of the whip, as +though he could not enter the state of a "respectable business man" soon +enough. When they came to Crystal Springs he brought a bunch of red +roses once more, and held them up to her with a roguish smile on his no +longer gloomy face. She took them with a little blush at the remembrance +of his first attempt at gallantry; and when he sat beside her again, he +fastened them with his own hands in her shining braids. They were as +merry as children out for a holiday; and only when they drove up to the +depot at San Mateo did the old gloom come back into his face as he +lifted her from her elevated position. + +"After three days, if in the land of the living, I will come to claim +you for my bride"--what more he said was lost in the din and racket of +the approaching train. + +She saw nothing of him after she had watched the supple figure at the +last moment springing lightly on the platform of the last car. But she +knew he was near and was happy. + +Early the next forenoon, in the counting-room of a mercantile firm on +Front street, sat one of the principals, enjoying his Havana, when the +door was darkened by the shadow of a tall figure standing in it. + +"Jim--old fellow!" he cried, seizing the newcomer by both hands. +"Welcome--thrice welcome! Have you come to stay, vagabond and rover? Say +at once--I read something in your face that tells me you are unbending +at last. Are you in love, my dear boy?--or what hath wrought this +change?" + +"How you do run on, Luke. You have not changed, at least. Yes, I am the +prodigal son, returning to his father to be--set up in business. +And--no--I'm not in love; I have simply learned to worship the dearest, +noblest girl, and will make her mine--or die," he added, in a lower +tone. + +"Why not accept my offer, Jim? The desk at my elbow is always kept +vacant for you. Your father, poor man, is not the only friend you have, +remember." He laid his hand impressively on his friend's arm, and looked +with frank affection into his face. + +Their interview was a lengthy one: friend Luke seemed averse to parting +with his old chum, and the son seemed in no great haste to greet his +father. But as we need not intrude on their first meeting, we can rejoin +father and son as they ascend the broad stairs in front of the family +residence, whither the father has taken his son in the first flush of +happiness. + +"You will love little Willie, I know; he is a brave boy, with long +flaxen ringlets just like my--like his mother." For the first time +something like hesitation came into his speech, and even the son's heart +beat faster for an instant as the door swung open in answer to the old +man's ring. He preceded him through the corridor, threw open a door and +called out, "Jim has come home, my dear; we are going into the library, +and will be ready for lunch after a while." + +She had known of their coming just a moment before they entered; he felt +it, for she had snatched up the boy, and half hid her face in his dress. +Very faded she looked; her cheeks, softly rounded once, were thin, and +the pink and white of her complexion had grown sallow. The "long fair +ringlets," too, were but limp, stringy curls, that hung without grace or +fulness down her back. The eyes, pale blue, though radiant once with +health and happiness, were weak and expressionless--save that a dumb +terror was written in them now. + +A smile, half contemptuous, half pitying, flitted over the young man's +face as he passed through the room, with only a silent bow to the woman. + +When they had vanished she stood like a statue, till the prattling of +the boy on her arm recalled her to herself. + +"He spoke not one word to me," she said, as she put the boy down, "not +one word. Oh, to hear the tone of his voice once more--only once more." +The door was open through which they had passed, and her burning eyes +seemed to pursue the form last vanished through it. She silently rose, +like one in a dream, and walked slowly, slowly along the corridor that +led to the library. + +Little Willie pulled over mamma's willow work-stand first, and then +found harmless amusement in winding a spool of crimson embroidering-silk +around and around the legs of a convenient table. + +What was it that turned his little beating heart and his puny white +face to stone all at once? Was this really a Medusa on which he looked? +The long ringlets seemed serpents, indeed; every one of them instinct +with the wild despair the bitter hatred pictured on the face that looked +so meek and inoffensive but a while ago. "His bride!"--the serpents +hissed it into her ears--"His bride! Never--never. She shall die--and +he? I will murder him with these hands, first. His bride--and I am to be +a friend to her--ha! ha! ha! The dotard." Every one of the serpents +echoed the mad laugh, as the woman threw back her head and clinched her +hands in wild defiance. The child broke out into shrill complaining +cries, and she sprang toward him, seized him and shook him by the +shoulders till his breath failed. But in the midst of her mad fury the +door opened, after a soft knock, and a female servant entered the room. + +"Is Master Willie troublesome?" she asked. "Dear heart; let me take him, +mum." + +"Leave the room instantly, nurse; Master Willie is naughty and will +remain with me." + +Two little arms were stretched out imploringly; but nurse had to +withdraw--with her own opinion of Master Willie's naughtiness, and +"Missus' temper." + +But the furies were banished, and when father and son entered the room +some time after to say that they would take lunch down town, "Sylvia," +as the old man addressed her, came forward quietly, leading the child by +the hand, and spoke words of welcome to him, in his little brother's +name. And she gave him her hand as she said "good-by," to the old man's +unspeakable joy. + +Poor old man! He fondly dreamed the gods were propitiated, the furies +appeased; that the son whom he really loved had been restored to his +rightful place, and would be guardian at some future day to the child +of his old age--the son his idolized young wife had given him. + +Yet he had not strength to battle against the storm that the idolized +young wife called up--the storm that was to sweep from him again the +long-lost, bitterly mourned son. Ah! well; it is not hard to fancy how +she strained every nerve to wrest from another the happiness once within +her own reach. Had she not bartered away her peace when she ruthlessly +deserted the man she loved? And should some other woman be happier than +she? No! Let them all be wrecked together. What cared she? Her husband; +bah! Her child, yes; she strained him to her breast, and bemoaned him, +and caressed him, and said that he was to be robbed by that wicked, +wicked man, who had come to disturb their quiet happiness. That his +unnatural father was about to squander on his undutiful older son, who +had deserted him and disgraced him for years, the fortune she had been +so sparing of--knowing that she would be left alone in the world some +day, with no one to provide for herself and her child. And she would +take her child now--a fresh burst of hysterical grief--right now, and +start out into the cold world to earn her daily bread, or beg, for her +child--for it would come to that, now that this cruel, hard-hearted man +had undertaken to provide for his profligate, vagabond son. + +And the child, little knowing how useful a tool he was in his mother's +hands, wept with her, and would not be comforted by the distracted +father, but clung to his mother's neck, crying, when she made a feint of +leaving the house at the dead of night. Then the old man in his anguish +promised to abandon his "vagabond" son, and was but too happy to have +peace restored to his troubled home at this price. After all, the boy +had lived away from him so many years; had never troubled himself about +him; then why should his father heap all this trouble on his own head +for what might be only a passing whim of the boy's? + +The third day had dawned since the long-lost son's return. Friend Luke +again sat in his counting-room, in company with his early Havana, his +meditations were disturbed by a boy, who was shown in by one of the +clerks. "A note for you, sir," and he had vanished. + +But the young merchant seized his hat when he had glanced at the +contents, and repaired, breathlessly, to his friend's hotel. Cold sweat +stood on his forehead when he knocked at the door, and it was opened by +a stranger. One glance at the bed and at those standing around it was +sufficient. + +"I was his friend," he said, and they respectfully made room for him. + +He touched the cold hand, and gently lifted the cloth that hid the rigid +face. His friend had always been a good shot, and Luke groaned as he +replaced the cloth. + +"Poor girl, poor girl--and I am to break the news to her!" + +The doctor who had been called in, a shock-headed, spectacled German, +looked at him, first from under his glasses, then over them, and at last +through them. "Aha!" he said, with evident satisfaction, catching at +Luke's words, "now we have it. It vas a voman who made dis misfortune, +after all." + +"A woman"--Luke repeated, softly; "yes, but her name was Sylvia." + + + + +_CROSSING THE ARIZONA DESERTS._ + + +HEAD-QUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF CALIFORNIA, } + SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., March 11, 1868.} + +MY DEAR MADAM:--The next steamer for Wilmington is advertised to sail on +the 14th, but as she is not yet in, her departure may be delayed a day +or two. + +I enclose letters to the commanding officers of Drum Barracks and Fort +Yuma, and am, + +My dear Madam, + +Truly yours, + +E. N. PLATT. + + +It was my intention to visit quite a remote part of Arizona; and, +although an officer's wife, having no personal acquaintance with any of +the officers stationed in the Territory, the letters the colonel gave me +to the commanding officers of both these posts, through which I should +have to pass, were very acceptable. As I was quite alone, the commanding +officer of Drum Barracks was particular to give me reliable people for +my long journey. Phil, the driver, was a model, and in many respects a +genius, while the two soldiers--who had been in the hospital when their +comrades had started for Arizona, two months before, and who were sent +by the post commander to protect "Government property" (the +ambulance)--were attentive and good-natured, as soldiers always are. + +With so small an escort, it was possible--nay, expedient--to make the +journey very rapidly. We were unincumbered by tents or baggage--my only +trunk and what provisions we carried were all in the ambulance, which +was drawn by four large mules. I had decided, being alone, to stop at +the forage-stations, whenever we could reach them, expecting to take my +meals there and to find quarters for the night. Luckily, the +quartermaster and Phil had made arrangement and provision to have my +meals cooked by one of the soldiers, in case the "station-fare" should +not agree with me; and my ambulance was of such ample dimensions that it +was easily turned into a sleeping apartment for the night: so that Phil, +who had all the merits and demerits of such places by heart, had only to +give an additional nod of the head to induce me to say to the +station-keeper, who would always invite me to enter his "house" when +Phil drove up to the _corral_, "No, thank you: I can rest very well in +the ambulance." Then there were days' marches to be made when no station +could be reached, so that we were compelled to camp out; and on such +occasions Phil would appear in the full glory of his well-earned +reputation. He boasted that he had brought fully one-half the number of +officers' wives who ever visited Arizona to the Territory himself, and +that he had always made them comfortable. Knowing, of course, before, +whenever we should camp out, he would go to work systematically. His +carbine was always by his side, and early in the morning he would +commence his raid on the game and birds abounding, more or less, +throughout the Territory. Slaying sometimes five or six of the +beautifully crested quails at one shot without moving from his seat, he +would send one of the soldiers to gather up the spoils, and then set the +men, placed one on each side of him, to pick the birds. That this was +thoroughly done he was very sure of, for he watched the operation with a +stern eye. Not the smallest splinter of wood, or anything combustible, +was left ungleaned on the field over which he passed on such a day; +fifty, ay, a hundred times, he would turn to his right-hand man, or to +his left, with the admonition: + +"Miller, we've six birds to cook, and bread to bake, to-night: pick up +that stick." + +Down would jump Miller, trusting to his agility, and the gymnastics he +might have practised in younger days, for safety in vaulting over the +wheels; for never a moment would Phil allow the ambulance to halt while +this wayside gathering was going on. + +I always preferred camping out to "bed and board" at the roadside hotels +of Arizona, for Phil, with all his sagacity, would sometimes go astray +in regard to the eligibility and comfort of the quarters furnished. As, +for instance, at Antelope Peak, where my mentor assured me I should find +a bedstead to place my bedding on, and a room all to myself. I _did_ +find a bedstead; but after the family (consisting of an American +husband, a Spanish wife, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and three +children) had removed their bed-clothes from it, to make place for mine, +it looked so uninviting that I requested Phil to spread my bed on the +floor. I had a room all to myself, too; but, on retiring to rest, I +found that the whole family--again consisting of husband, wife, +sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and three children--had spread their bed +on the floor of the adjoining room, which, being separated from my +apartment only by an old blanket, coming short of the ground over a +foot, and hung up where the door ought to be, enabled, or rather +compelled me to look straight into the faces of the different members of +this interesting family. As it grew darker, and the danger of being +stared out of countenance passed over, another serious disturbance +presented itself to my senses. All my friends can bear witness to the +fact that I consider Mr. Charles Bergh the greatest public benefactor of +the present age (the woman who founded the hospital for aged and infirm +cats not excepted), and that, with me, it calls forth all the combative +qualities lately discovered to lie dormant in woman's nature, to see any +harmless, helpless animal cruelly treated; but if I could have caught +only half a dozen of the five hundred mice that nibbled at my nose, my +ears, and my feet that night, I should exultingly have dipped them in +camphene, applied a match, and sent them, as warning examples, back to +their tribe. + +Only once after this, toward the close of the journey, did Phil entice +me to sleep under a roof. It was at Blue-water Station; and the man who +kept it turned himself out into the _corral_, and made my bed on the +floor of the only room the house contained. There was no bedstead there, +but the man gave his word that neither were there any mice; so I went to +sleep in perfect faith and security. When I woke up at midnight, I +thought the Indians must have surprised us, scalped me, and left me for +dead. Such a burning, gnawing sensation I experienced on the top of my +head that almost unconsciously I put up my hand to see if they had taken +_all_ my hair. But I brought it down rapidly, for all the horrid, +pinching, stinging bugs and ants that had ensconced themselves in my +hair, during my sleep, suddenly fastened to the intruding fingers, and +clung to them with a tenacity worthy of a better cause. + +But these experiences were not made until I had crossed the greater part +of the Arizona deserts; and I considered them rather as pleasantly +varying the solemn, still monotony of the days passed, one after one, in +a solitude broken only, at long intervals, by those forlorn government +forage-stations. + +The first desert we crossed was still in California--though why +California should feel any desire to claim the wilderness of sand and +rattlesnakes lying between Vallecito Mountain and Fort Yuma, I cannot +see. We had passed over the thriving country around San Bernardino, and +through the verdant valley of San Felipe; and striking the desert just +beyond Vallecito, it seemed like entering Arizona at once. + +Could anything be more hopelessly endless--more discouragingly +boundless--than the sand-waste that lay before us the morning we left +the forage-station of Vallecito! For days before, Phil had been +entertaining me with stories and accounts of travellers who had been +lost in sand-storms on the deserts. Not a breath of air stirred--not a +cloud was to be seen in the sky on this particular morning; +nevertheless, I watched for the signs that precede the springing up of +the wind with a keen eye, as the ambulance rolled slowly and noiselessly +through the deep sand, and I listened attentively to Phil's stories. The +road we followed was but a wagon-track, at best, and I could well +believe that, in ten minutes from the time a storm sprang up, there +would be no trace of the road left. Then commence the blind wanderings, +the frenzied attempts to regain the friendly shelter of the station, on +the part of the inexperienced traveller--ending, but too often, in a +miserable death by famine and starvation. The sand, flying in clouds, +conceals the distant mountains, by which alone he could be piloted; and, +straying off, he finds himself bewildered among piles of sand and +tattered sage-brush, when the storm has blown over. The remains of human +beings found by parties going into the mountains have proved that such +poor wretches must have wandered for days without food, without water, +till they found their death, at last, on the wide, inhospitable plain. +Their death--but not their grave; for the _coyote_, with his jackal +instinct, surely finds the body of the lost one, under the sand-mound +mercifully covering it, and, feasting on the flesh, he leaves the bones +white and bleaching in the pitiless rays of the sun. + +"Phil," said I, interrupting him, "you told me the mules would not get a +drop of water to-day: what is that lake before us, then?" + +He looked up to where I pointed. + +"It is _mirage_, madame. _You_ cannot be deceived by it; I am sure you +must have seen it on the plains, before this." + +"Yes," I said, stoutly, "I have seen _mirage_; but this is water--not +_mirage_." + +"We shall see," said Phil, equally determined to hold his ground. + +But I was sure it could not be _mirage_--it must be water--for did I not +see each of the few scattering bushes of _verde_ and sage that grew on +the border, and farther out, all through the water, reflected in the +clear, slightly undulating flood? The bushes seemed larger here than any +of the stinted vegetation I had yet seen on the desert, and every bush +was clearly reflected in the water; but it was strange that as we +approached the water receded; and if I noted any particular bunch of +sage or weeds, I found that, as we neared, it grew smaller, and I could +no longer see its image in the water. + +Phil was right--it was the _mirage_; and this _Fata Morgana_ of the +plains and deserts of our own country became a most curious and +interesting study to me. I could write a volume on the "dissolving +views" I have seen. Leaving camp one morning, I saw, on turning, that a +narrow strip of short, coarse grass had been suddenly transformed into a +tall, magnificent hedge; and a single, meagre stem of _verde_ would as +suddenly grow into a large, spreading tree. Out of the clouds, on the +horizon, would sometimes loom up, majestically, a tall spire, a heavy +dome, or a vessel under full sail; and changing into one fantastic shape +after another, the picture would slowly fade into vapor at last. Whole +cities have sprung up before my eyes: I could have pointed out which one +of the different cupolas I supposed to be the City Hall, and which +steeple, according to my estimation, belonged to the First Presbyterian +Church; and could have shown the exact locality of the harbor, from the +number of masts I saw across the roofs of the houses yonder. Even Phil +was deceived one morning. I asked him why he stopped the ambulance, and +allowed the mules to rest at so unusual an hour in the day? He pointed +to a mountain I had not noticed before, which stood almost in front of +us, and was steep and bare, of a light clay-color. + +"There ain't a man driving government mules knows this road better'n I +do; but I'll be derned if ever I saw that mountain before." + +He asked the men if they thought it could be _mirage_, but they hooted +at the idea--it was too substantial for that, altogether; it was a +mountain--nothing else. But while we were, all four, so intently gazing +at it, the scene was shifted; the mountain parted, leaving two steep +banks--the space between apparently spanned by a light bridge. + +For days we continued our journey through the desert, making camp +generally near one of the numerous wells indiscriminately scattered +between Vallecito and Fort Yuma. There are Indian Wells, Sacket's Wells, +Seven Wells, Cook's Wells, which, on close inspection, prove to belong +to the dissolving views, of which Arizona possesses such a variety; an +old well-curb or muddy water-hole generally constituting all the claim +these places have to the distinction of being called wells. But no; at +Cook's Wells, we _did_ find a good, clear well of water; nor is this the +only object of interest connected in my mind with the place. The +station-keeper told me that a tribe of friendly Indians, not far from +here, the Deguines, were to celebrate the funeral rites of a departed +warrior the following day. The spirit of the "brave" was to find its way +up to the Happy Hunting Grounds from the funeral-pyre on which the body +was to pass through the process of incremation--this being their mode of +disposing of the remains of deceased friends. A novel spectacle it would +be, no doubt; but I decided not to witness it. I could already see +Castle Dome looming in the distance, and I knew that I should be able to +reach Fort Yuma in the course of the following day. So we left Cook's +Wells early in the morning, and reached the crossing of the Colorado +some time in the forenoon. + +The Colorado river was "up," Phil said; and I was prepared to agree +with him when I saw an expanse of muddy water covering the flat, on the +other side, to a considerable distance. The old scow, or flat-boat, +manned by two dirty-looking Mexicans, had no difficulty in coming up +close to us, where we were waiting on the shore: the difficulty lay in +our getting on the crazy thing without breaking through the rotten +planks. Perhaps the two Mexicans looked so dirty because all their +"clean clothes" were hanging out to dry, on two lines of cowhide, +stretched on either side of the flat-boat, which the wind kept blowing +into the mules' faces, causing them to "back out" twice, after our +_entrée_ to the ferry had been almost effected. There was no railing +around the boat (the four posts from which the clothes-line was +stretched having evidently been erected at the four corners for that +purpose), and, as it was only just large enough to afford standing room +for the ambulance and the men, it was anything but soothing to a woman's +nerves to see the mules rear and plunge every time the wind flapped one +of the articles on the line into the animals' faces. I had remained in +the ambulance, and in my usual corner, but as the shore receded, and an +ocean seemed to stretch out on every side of me, I found it hard to stay +there. I had suggested to Phil, in the first place, to cut down those +miserable clothes-lines, if the Mexicans refused to gather in their +week's washing, but he had quieted me by saying that our men would hold +the mules. However, when the current grew swifter, and the Mexicans +found some difficulty in managing their craft, the men were directed to +take the long poles, of which there was an abundant supply, and help to +steer clear of the logs floating down the river. + +Now came the difficulty; for the refractory mules would not listen to +the "Ho, there, Kate; be still--will you?" with which Phil admonished +the nigh leader, but persisted in rearing every time a piece of "linen" +struck them, till the old scow shook with their furious stamping, and I +grew desperate in my lone corner. "Phil," I cried at last, with the +energy of despair, brandishing an enormous knife I had drawn from the +mess-chest, "unless you come and quiet the mules immediately, I shall +get down, cut the harness, and let them jump into the river!" + +An hour's drive brought us to Fort Yuma, where we rested a day or two, +before resuming our journey. The country here has been described again +and again; its dry, sterile plains and black, burnt-looking hills have +been sufficiently execrated--relieving me of the necessity of adding my +quota. Fort Yuma--grand in its desolateness, white and parched in the +midst of its two embracing rivers--needs but the Dantean inscription on +its gateway to make it resemble the entrance to the regions of the +eternally damned. + +It was by no means my first glimpse of the "noble savage" that I got on +the banks of the Colorado, or I might have been appalled at the sight of +a dozen or two of barely-clothed, filthy-looking Indians, squatted in +rows wherever the sun could burn hottest on their clay-covered heads. +The specimens here seen were different from those that had come under my +observation on the Plains. That Indians can be civilized William Lloyd +Garrison would not doubt, could he but see with what native grace these +dusky belles wear their crinoline. Nor can they be accused of the +extravagance of their white sisters in matters pertaining to toilet and +dress: the crinoline (worn _over_ the short petticoat, constituting +their full and entire wardrobe, aside from it) apparently being the only +article of luxury they indulge in, except paint--and whiskey, when they +can get it. But grandest of all were the men--the warrior-like +Yumas--arrayed in the traditional strip of red flannel, an occasional +cast-off military garment, and the cap of hard-baked mud above alluded +to. I had never seen these before, and thought them very singular as +ornaments; but Phil soon explained their utility in destroying a certain +parasite by which the noble red man is afflicted. During the summer +months he seeks relief in an application of wet mud to the part +besieged--his head. The mud is allowed to bake hard, in the course of +weeks, under the broiling sun; and when quite certain that his enemy has +been slaughtered, he removes the clay until another application becomes +necessary. + +Following the course of the Gila river for some time, we struck the +desert again, beyond Gila Bend. What struck me as very surprising was, +that the desert here did not look like a desert at all: the scattering +_verde_-bushes and growth of cactus hiding the sand from one's eyes, +always just a little distance ahead--the cacti growing so thickly in +some places that, when they are in blossom, their flowers form a mosaic +of brilliant hues. Some of them are very curious--particularly the +"monument cactus," a tall shaft, growing to a height of over thirty +feet, sometimes with arms branching out on either side, more generally a +simple obelisk, covered with thorns from three to four inches long. + +We were now nearing Maricopa Wells and the Pimo villages. Phil was the +pearl of all drivers; and he recounted traditions and legends belonging +to the past of this country that even Prescott might have wished to +hear. Phil had studied the history of the country in his own way, and +had evidently not kept his eyes closed while travelling back and forth +through Arizona. Halting the ambulance one day, he assisted me to alight +near a pile of rocks the most wonderful it was ever my fortune to +behold. He called them Painted Rocks, or Sounding Rocks; and his theory +in regard to them was, that this had been a place where the Indians had +long ago met to perform their religious rites and ceremonies. Rocks of +different sizes--from those not above a foot high, to others that +reached almost to my shoulders--all rounded in shape, were here, in the +midst of the plain, gathered together within a space of twenty or thirty +feet. They were black--whether from the action of the weather merely, or +from some chemical process--and covered on all sides with +representations from the animal world of Arizona and Mexico. The +pictures had been engraved, in a rude manner, on the black ground, and +embraced, in their variety, snakes, lizards, toads; also, four-footed +animals, which I could conscientiously recognize neither as horses nor +antelopes. Were they horses, it would go to prove that these pictures +had been made by roving bands of Indians, any time after the conquest, +as it is held that horses were first brought to this country by Cortez. +Did the pictures represent antelopes, it would almost tempt me to +believe that it was a specimen of the picture-writing of the Aztecs. The +sun was also represented, with its circle of rays, which, in Phil's +estimation, was proof conclusive that the heathens had come here only to +worship, particularly as there was no water in the neighborhood, and +they could not have lived here for any length of time. What the +character of the rocks may be, I am not geologist enough to know; but +when struck they emit a peculiarly clear and ringing sound, like that +produced by striking against a bell or a glass. None of the tribes now +to be found in that part of the country appear to claim any knowledge of +the origin of these rocks. + +If either the Pimos, Maricopas, or Yumas are descendants of the Aztecs, +they have most wofully degenerated. On one point their traditions all +agree: namely, that the three tribes were not always at peace with each +other, as they are now. Long, long ago, when the Pimos were sorely +pressed by the more powerful Yumas, they allied themselves with the +Maricopas; and when they still found themselves in the minority against +the common enemy, and had been almost exterminated, they flew to the +white man for assistance, and never broke the treaty made with him. + +But the shimmer of romance and poetry one would willingly throw around +them, is so rudely dispelled by the sight of these lank, dirty, +half-nude creatures, with faces exhibiting no more intelligence than +(perhaps not so much as) the faces of their lean dogs, or shaggy horses. +Yet, again, I must confess that even these Indians are susceptible of a +high degree of refinement and cultivation. Two of them, mounted on a +horse whose diminutive size allowed their four feet to touch the ground +at every stride, dressed, or rather undressed, in a manner to strike +terror into the soul of any well brought-up female, rode close up to the +ambulance one day, as it passed through the Indian villages, one of them +shouting, "Bully for you!" at the top of his voice, while the other +whipped up the horse at the same time, as though anxious to retreat the +moment their stock of polite learning had been exhausted. + +Meeting at Maricopa Wells with the captain of the infantry stationed at +La Paz, we visited the interior of the Pimo and Maricopa villages +together, on horseback. We rode through the field the Indians cultivate, +and irrigate from the Gila river, by means of _acequias_ dug through +their lands in all directions. Some of their huts on the roadside were +deserted by their owners, who had removed to very airy residences, +constructed of the branches of cotton-wood and willows, growing on the +banks of the Gila, located where they could overlook their possessions +on all sides. As these residences consisted simply of a roof, or shed, +it was no such very hard matter to keep a lookout on every side. That +they do not trust a great deal in each other's honesty, was evident from +the way in which they had fastened the doors of their city residences +when exchanging them for their country-seats: they had firmly walled up +the entrance with _adobe_ mud. However, they are quiet and peaceable, I +am told, unless, by any chance or mischance, they get whiskey--of which +they are as fond as all other Indians. + +In the mountain around which we had passed on the last day's journey +from Gila Bend, is to be seen, plainly and distinctly, the face of a +man, reclining, with his eyes closed as though in sleep. Among the most +beautiful of all the legends told here, is that concerning this face. It +is Montezuma's face, so the Indians believe (even those in Mexico, who +have never seen the image), and he will awaken from his long sleep some +day, will gather all the brave and the faithful around him, raise and +uplift his down-trodden people, and restore to his kingdom the old power +and the old glory--as it was, before the Hidalgos invaded it. So strong +is this belief in some parts of Mexico, that people who passed through +that country years ago, tell me of some localities where fires were kept +constantly burning, in anticipation of Montezuma's early coming. It +looks as though the stern face up there was just a little softened in +its expression, by the deep slumber that holds the eyelids over the +commanding eye; and all nature seems hushed into death-like stillness. +Day after day, year after year, century after century, slumbers the man +up there on the height, and life and vegetation sleep on the arid plains +below--a slumber never disturbed--a sleep never broken; for the +battle-cry of Yuma, Pimo, and Maricopa that once rang at the foot of the +mountain, did not reach Montezuma's ear; and the dying shrieks of the +children of those who came far over the seas to rob him of his sceptre +and crown, fall unheeded on the rocks and the deserts that guard his +sleep. + +Two days more, and Phil pointed out to me, at a distance of some two +miles away, the ruins of the Casas-Grandes, sole remnant of the Seven +Cities the adventurous _Padre_ had so enticingly described to the +Spaniards. I could not induce Phil to allow me a nearer view, as we were +in the Apache country, and had no escort save the two soldiers in the +ambulance with us. From this distance the houses looked to me like any +other good-sized, one-story, _adobe_ buildings; but the material must +have been better prepared, or differently chosen, from that which is now +used in erecting Mexican houses, or it could not have resisted the +ravages of Time so far. + +On we journeyed, not without some dread on my part, and a great many +assurances on the part of Phil that I was a very courageous woman. But +nearing Tucson, where the danger was greatest, we were not always alone. +Mexican trains bound for, or coming from Sonora, sometimes fell in with +us, and I did not despise their company, for I knew that only "in +strength lay safety" for us. Some of these trains consisted of +pack-donkeys only, bearing on their bruised backs the linen and cambrics +which are so beautifully manufactured in Sonora and other Mexican +provinces; others consisted of wagons heavily laden, their drivers armed +to the teeth, and well prepared to defend them against attacks the +Apaches were sure to make on them, sometime and somewhere between Sonora +and Tucson. + +One of these trains belonged to Leopoldo Carillo, a Mexican merchant of +Tucson, who paid his men one hundred and fifty dollars for every Indian +scalp they delivered to him. Phil asked one of the Mexicans, driving a +wagon drawn along by some twelve or sixteen horses, if he had taken any +scalps on the trip. The Mexican nodded his head in silence, and turned +away. The teamster belonging to the next wagon--an American--told us how +the Indians had "jumped them," just after crossing the border, and how +two of them had held the Mexican, just spoken to, at bay, while two +others killed and scalped his younger brother. They all together, some +seven or eight of them, had taken three scalps from the Indians on this +trip; but he was willing to lose his share of the prize-money, the man +said, if the "pesky devils hadn't taken the boy's scalp;" for the +brother, he averred, cried and "took on about it" _just like a white +man_. + + + + +_DOWN AMONG THE DEAD LETTERS._ + + +Strangers visiting Washington, and admiring the style and architecture +of the General Post-Office building, would never know that there are +numbers of ladies seated behind the plate-glass of the second-story +windows. Indeed, few people residing in the capital are really aware in +what part of the building those female clerks are stowed away. I had +passed on every side of the building--morning, noon, and night--but +never had seen anybody that looked like a "female clerk," till I found +myself of their number, one morning; and then I discovered the right +entrance to the Dead Letter Office. It is on F street, so close to the +Ladies' Delivery that any person entering here would be supposed to be +inquiring for a letter at that delivery. There is another entrance on E +street, but it is not much patronized by the ladies until after fifteen +minutes past nine o'clock; for punctually at that time, the door-keeper +is instructed to lock the ladies' door on F street, and those who are +tardy are compelled to go up the gentlemen's staircase, or pass in at +the large public entrance on E street. Crowds of visitors walk through +the building, day after day, but not one of all the ladies employed here +do they see, unless they request to be shown the rooms of the female +_employés_. + +In this department, working hours are from nine o'clock in the morning +till three o'clock in the afternoon. Ladies are not allowed to leave the +office for lunch, nor do they waste much time in discussing the lunch +they may have brought, as it is only in consideration of their industry +and close application that they are allowed to leave the office at +three o'clock, instead of four. + +This Dead Letter Office is one of the most complicated pieces of +machinery in the "ship of state." I will try to explain and elucidate as +much of it as came under my observation. Letters left "uncalled for" at +the different post-offices throughout the country are sent to the Dead +Letter Office, after a certain length of time. Letters not prepaid, or +short-paid, through neglect or ignorance of the writer, also find their +way here; and so do foreign letters, from all parts of Europe, which +have been prepaid only in part, and therefore come here, instead of +reaching their destination. Sometimes mails are robbed, and the +mail-bags hidden or thrown away, but are afterwards searched for, and +their remaining contents brought to this office. Then again, a vessel at +sea, homeward-bound, brings letters from ships meeting it, of sailors +and passengers, who send their letters in firm faith that they will +reach their anxious friends at home; but if our Government happens to +have no treaty or contract with that particular government to which the +writer belongs, of course, the letters cannot be forwarded, but are laid +at rest here. These letters are carefully preserved for a number of +years. They are sometimes called for, and found, a long, long time after +they were written; in fact, only "dead" letters are destroyed. + +Though I wish to speak more particularly of the duties and labor +performed by the ladies employed in this department, I must begin by +saying that all letters pass through the hands of, and are opened by, a +number of gentlemen--clerks in the department--whose room is on the +ground floor of the building. A great number of letters contain money, +valuable papers, and postage stamps. These are sent to the +superintendent's room. Letters without contents are folded, with the +envelope laid inside the letter, tied in bundles, and sent up-stairs +for directing. Money, drafts, and postage-stamps, however, are not the +only articles considered "mailable matter" by the public. One day I +looked over a box filled with such matter, taken from dead letters and +parcels in the opening room, and found in it one half-worn gaiter boot, +two hair-nets, a rag doll-baby, minus the head and one foot, a set of +cheap jewelry, a small-sized frying-pan, two ambrotypes, one pair of +white kid gloves, a nursing-bottle, a tooth-brush, a boot-jack, three +yards of lace, a box of Ayer's pills, a bunch of keys, six nutmegs, a +toddy-stick, and no end of dress samples. This matter is allowed to +accumulate for three months, and is then sold at auction; but a register +is so carefully kept, that the person mailing the doll-baby without +prepaying can follow its progress from the little country town where it +was mailed to the end of its career under the hammer at the Dead Letter +Office, and here can claim the amount it brought at auction. + +Every clerk, male or female, has his or her letter, from A to Z, and +beginning again with A A, when the alphabet "runs out." Before the +ladies take their places at the desk in the morning, the messenger has +already placed there the number of envelopes each lady is expected to +direct in the course of the day; and large baskets filled with bundles +of letters, sent up from the opening room (the bundles marked with the +letter of the clerk through whose hands they have passed), are brought +into the rooms. The envelopes are stamped in one corner with the lady's +letter, in red; so that the ladies are spoken of, by the superintendent +or the messengers, as Miss A, B, C, D--not as Miss Miller, or Mrs. +Smith. Fifty of these envelopes are contained in one package, so that it +is easy to calculate whether any of them are wasted by misdirecting or +blotting. The work looks simple enough, when you see a number of ladies +seated at their desks, writing addresses on envelopes, with the greatest +apparent ease. "And then," as a gushing young lady said to me one day, +"how romantic it must be to listen to the outpourings of love and +affection that these letters must contain in many cases, and the dark +secrets that others disclose." She thought it rather a cruel restraint, +when I told her we were allowed to read only so much of a letter as was +necessary to discover the name of the writer, and to read no part of it, +if the name was signed clearly and distinctly at the end. Let the lady +reader pause a moment and ask herself, "Do I sign my letters so that one +of these clerks could return them from the Dead Letter Office, without +going over the whole of their contents?" By the time you have finished +reading this paper, I hope you will have formed the resolution to sign +your name "in full," and just as it is, to every letter you send by the +mail. Don't sign your name "Saida," when it is really Sarah Jones "in +full;" and if you call your father's brick house on Third street, "Pine +Grove," because there are two dry pine-trees in the front yard, don't +neglect to add "No. 24, Third Street, Cincinnati, Ohio." The greater +number of letters passing through this office are badly written and +uninteresting; many of them so perfectly unintelligible that no human +being can read or return them; not that the greater portion of our +community are uneducated or unintelligent people, but that they are +either reckless or careless. Letters directed with any kind of common +sense are most always sure of reaching their destination without +visiting the Dead Letter Office. Not only do people, in a number of +cases, neglect to prepay their letters, but frequently, letters without +direction or address of any kind are dropped into the letter-boxes. In +writing to individuals residing in the same city with them, people think +it is necessary only to mention the name of the individual; the +"post-office man" is expected to know that the letter is not to go out +of the city. The post-office people are, if not omniscient, at least +very obliging. I have found a letter directed to "Carrolton, in +America," and the letter had been forwarded to, and bore the post-mark +of every Carrolton in the United States before it was sent here. + +The work of the ladies falls under two heads: "Common" and "Special." We +will get the best idea of what "Common" means, in contradistinction to +"Special," by watching Miss A, on "Common" work this morning. Taking one +of the bundles of letters from the basket, she opens it and takes up the +top letter; spreading it on the desk, she finds the envelope inside; it +is directed to "William Smith, Philadelphia, Penn.," and the words +"uncalled for," stamped on the envelope, show why it was sent here. Now, +the signature is to be looked for: it is here--"John Jones;" next, where +was it dated?--"Somerville, Ohio;" but does the post-mark on the +envelope correspond with that? Yes, it is post-marked from where it was +dated; so, "John Jones" will receive his letter back again: his friend, +"W. Smith," may have left Philadelphia, or may have died. "John Jones'" +letter is returned to him in a coarse, brown "P. O. D." envelope, +stamped with the letter A in one corner, and he pays three cents for the +privilege of knowing that his friend "Smith" never received his letter. +The next is a delicate pink affair, dated, "White Rose Bower"--signed, +"Ella;" "only this, and nothing more;" so the letter is hopelessly dead, +and thrown into the paper-basket at Miss A's side. The epistle following +this is signed, "Henry Foster," and could be returned if it had not been +dated at "White Hall" and post-marked "Harrisburg." On looking over the +Post-office Directory, we may or may not find a White Hall in +Pennsylvania, but there is nothing in the letter to show whether "Henry +Foster's" home is in Harrisburg or White Hall; consequently, that letter +is dead, too. Here is one, signed plainly and legibly, but the writer +has omitted to date it from any particular place. From the tone of the +letter, it is plainly to be seen that he lives where the letter was +mailed--but where was it mailed? The post-mark on the envelope is so +indistinct that any lady not employed in the Dead Letter Office would +throw it aside as "unreadable;" but ladies here learn to decipher what +to ordinary mortals would be hieroglyphic, or simply a blank. After +consulting the pages of the Post-office Directory beside her, Miss A +passes the envelope to Miss B. "Can you suggest any post-office in +Indiana beginning with M, ending with L, with about four letters +between?" Miss B scrutinizes the envelope closely. "The post-mark is not +from Ind. (Indiana), it is from Ioa" (Iowa), is her decision. Misses C, +D, and E, at work in the same room, differ in opinion, and at last Miss +A steps across the hall to the room of the lady superintendent, where a +"blue-book" is kept, and, with the assistance of this lady and the book, +Miss A discovers the place in Indiana, directs the letter, and continues +her work. When she has directed fifty letters, she ties them (with both +envelopes--the "P. O. D." and original one--inside each letter) +carefully together, and the messenger carries them into the +folding-room, where other ladies, employed in this branch, fold and seal +them. Of these "Common" letters, every lady is required to direct from +two hundred to three hundred a day--a task by no means easy to +accomplish. + +"Special" work is generally disliked by the ladies, and is of a somewhat +"mixed" character. Letters held for postage--consequently not +"dead"--come under this head. They, too, are sent back to the writer, if +the signature can be found, and the place from which they are dated +corresponds with the post-mark; if not, they are assorted according to +letter and put away into "pigeon-holes," marked with the letter +corresponding. Foreign letters, such as I spoke of before, come under +this head, too. Then there are official letters--in relation to military +and judicial matters--short-paid, and, therefore, brought before this +tribunal. These require minute attention, as three and four documents +are inclosed in one envelope sometimes, making it difficult to discover +who is the proper person to return them to. Again, there are letters +with postage-stamps to be returned, and money letters containing not +over one dollar: those with larger amounts are directed in the +superintendent's room. Ladies directing stamp and money letters keep +account of them in a book, submitted, together with the letters, to the +superintendent, at the close of office hours, every day. Money letters +are marked with red stars, stamp letters with blue. Stamps taken from +dead letters are destroyed by the proper authorities. Then, there is +copying to do--orders and circulars, rules and regulations, to be +transmitted to the different local post-offices; and translations to be +made of communications received from foreign post departments. All this +is "Special" work. A large proportion of the letters passing through the +office are German letters--some French, Italian, Norwegian, and Spanish; +but two German clerks are constantly employed, while one clerk can +easily attend to the letters of all the other different nationalities +together. + +Sometimes it comes to pass that the superintendent visits one room or +the other, with a number of letters in his hand; these have been +misdirected or badly written. The red letter stamped on each letter +guides him to the desk of the lady who has directed it; and very +sensitive is each and every lady to the slightest reproach or reprimand +received, because of the universal kindness and respect with which they +are treated by all the officials with whom they come in contact. + +If the task of poring over these epistles of all kinds, day after day, +is, on the whole, tiresome and wearing, there are certainly many +incidents to relieve the tedium of the occupation. Incidents, I say; +letters, I should say. The deep respect we entertain for a well-known +army officer was justified to me by the insight his own letters gave me +into his character. It is against the rules of the post-office +department to read any part of a letter, unless it is necessary to do so +in order to discover the correct address of the writer; but, as the +general's handwriting is a little hasty and peculiar, and his military +honors and titles were not appended to these letters I speak of, it was +natural that they should be read by the clerks, in order to ascertain +whether they could be returned to the place they were written from. One +of these letters had been written to an old lady (I judged so from the +fact of his inquiring about her son and grand-children) somewhere in the +South, who, it appeared, had entertained the general at her house, one +day during the war, when the general was very much in want of a dinner +to eat. He had not forgotten her kindness and hospitality, though it was +now after the close of the war; but the old lady had probably removed +from the little village to which the letter was directed, or, perhaps, +she had died: so the letter came into our hands, and was returned to the +general. Another was to an old friend of the general's. They had played +together as boys, perhaps, but his friend had not risen to fame and +fortune, like himself; he was giving words to his deep sympathy with a +misfortune or bereavement that had befallen his friend--sympathy +expressed with such tender, true feeling, that we felt as though it were +another bereavement that he should have lost this letter of the +general's. + +The remark was often made among us that the Dead Letter Office afforded +the very best opportunities for making collections of autographs of +celebrated people--only the authorities could not be made to see it in +that light. It was always with a sigh of regret, I must confess, that +letters signed by such names as Bancroft, Whittier, Beecher, Grant, +Greeley, were returned to their rightful owners. The most interesting +accounts of foreign travel were sometimes contained in the dead +letters--accounts more interesting than any book ever published. These +were, as a general thing, written by ladies--and that sealed their doom. +Gentlemen writing letters almost always sign their full name; but a lady +will write a dozen pages, telling her friends all about the Louvre and +the Tuileries, the Escurial and London Tower, in one long letter, and +then sign Kate, or Lillie, at the end, thus precluding all possibility +of having her letter returned, though we know from it that she has +returned to her home in Boston. It is almost incredible what a large +number of letters passing through our hands are "finished off" by that +classically beautiful verse--"My pen is bad, my ink is pale; my love for +you will never fail"--and it is impossible to believe in how many +different ways and styles these touching lines can be written and +spelled, till you find them dished up to you a dozen times a day, in +this office. Eastern people don't appreciate this "pome" as Western +farmers do. Missouri rustics are particularly addicted to it. What the +predilection of the Southern people might have been, I cannot say; it +was just after the close of the war, and their letters were pitiful +enough. Of course there was not a Federal postage-stamp to be had in any +of the Southern States; and no matter how deeply the contents of some of +these letters affected us, we could not forward them to the people they +were addressed to. These letters from the South portrayed so terribly +true the bitter, abject poverty of all classes, at that time, that the +Northerners to whom they were written would not have hesitated to assist +these friends of "better days," could they have received the letters; +but, even had we been allowed to forward them, the chances were +extremely slender that people were still in the same position and +location after the war as before the war. + +Not these letters alone were sad; for sometimes a whole drama could be +read from one or two short letters. One day we found among the dead +letters a note written in a feeble, scrawling hand. It was by a boy, a +prisoner and sick, in one of the penal institutions of New York--sick, +poor fellow! and imploring his mother--oh, so piteously!--to come and +see him. He was in the sick ward, he said, and if he _had_ been wicked, +and had struck at his step-father when he saw him abuse his mother, +would she not come to see him, only once, for all that? She must not let +his step-father prevent her from coming; he was dreaming of his mother +and sister every night, and he knew his mother would come to him; but +she must come soon, for the doctor had said so. Perhaps the letter had +not reached the mother because the step-father had taken her out of the +son's reach; for, in the course of a day or two, we found another letter +addressed to the same woman, by one of the prison officials: the boy, +Charley, had died on such a date--about a week after his letter had been +written--and he had looked and asked for his mother to the last. + +About letters written by German people I have noticed one peculiarity: +they never omit to write the number of the year in some part of the +letter, or on the envelope, outside. Sometimes it is written where the +name of the country or the State should be found on the envelope, so +that the direction would read, "Jacob Schmied, St. Louis, 1865;" or they +write it at the bottom of the letter, instead of signing their name, and +then write their name at the beginning of the letter, as though they +were writing the letter to themselves. Everything is heavy and clumsy +about their letters; they never indulge in joke or sentiment; and +through the negligence of one of the German clerks, the most serious +trouble had almost been brewed in a German brewer's family, at one time. +It happened in this way: + +A substantial German brewer had written to Hans Biersöffel, dunning him +for money, owing on several barrels of _lager_. Hans must have left the +city--at any rate, the letter came to our office, and was returned to +the brewer; but, unfortunately, a very sentimental letter, containing a +copy of some love-sick verses, written by a German lady, and held in the +office as a curiosity for a little while, had (by mistake, of course) +found its way into this letter. The honest Dutchman had meant to return +this piece of property to our office at the first opportunity, and +therefore carried it in his pocket-book, where his wife discovered it, +seized it, and held it over his head, as the sword of Damocles, forever +after--as he could not prove to her satisfaction that the letter and +verses had _not_ been sent to _him_ by the writer. + +At the time I belonged to the corps of dead letter clerks, there were +three rooms fronting on Seventh street, fitted up as offices for the +lady clerks, and one very large room on the other side of the hall. A +straw mat was spread on the stone floor in our room; one office-chair +was furnished for each lady, and desks barely large enough for two +ladies to work at, without elbowing each other; and in one corner, +wash-stand and water. In the large room some twenty ladies were writing, +while four or five folders had their desk in the same room. Of the other +rooms, one was occupied by the lady superintendent, together with whom +were from four to six ladies; the next room also accommodated six +ladies, and the last one, which had the look of a prison, from a high +grating running through it, afforded room for four others. There were +old Post-office Directories, boxes containing printed matter, and such +like valuables, kept behind this grating; and one day, when a party of +sightseers came unasked into our room, the youngest lady there--whose +spirit had not yet been broken by the weight of the responsibilities +resting on her shoulders--explained to the gaping crowd that behind this +grating were kept the silver and household furniture of General +----,--the assistant postmaster--boxed up, while he was recruiting in +the country. This was a twofold revenge, the young lady said to us: it +was punishing the visitors for their inquisitiveness, and "old ----" for +having the grating put up there. Several years have passed since I last +saw the post-office building; the ladies of room No. -- were then +petitioning to have this grating removed. Whether their petition was +granted, I have not learned. + + + + +_MARCHING WITH A COMMAND._ + + +From Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, we were ordered to Fort +Leavenworth, Kansas, there to join General Sykes' command, then fitting +out for the march across the Plains. General Sykes commanded the Fifth +Infantry, while my husband belonged to the Third Cavalry; but as the +latter regiment was to take up the line of march from Little Rock, +Arkansas, through Texas, the lieutenant, as well as some three or four +other officers of the Third, were well satisfied to be assigned to the +infantry command, and sent in charge of recruits from Washington and +Carlisle, to join General Sykes at Fort Leavenworth. + +The two regiments (Fifth Infantry and Third Cavalry) were to rendezvous +at Fort Union, New Mexico, where General Carleton was to meet the +troops, and assign them to the different forts, camps, and stations in +his department. This was immediately after the close of the war; and +these eight hundred men of the Fifth Infantry and the Third Cavalry, +under Colonel Howe, were the first regulars sent out to the Territories, +from whence they had been called in to do some of the hard fighting when +the rebellion broke out--volunteers and colored troops taking their +place on the frontiers. + +It was early June--the sky radiant, the earth laughing. Birds of the +western prairies warbled their greeting from out the rose-trellises and +sweet-scented flowers of the little enclosures in front of the officers' +quarters, which, surrounding the well kept parade-ground, gave the place +the look of one large bright-blooming garden. For days there had been +at the fort signs and sounds as of a swarm of bees preparing to leave +the hive. The carriage of the general flew back and forth between the +town and the fort; the quartermaster dashed through the corrals, and by +the workshops on his handsome sorrel; females of all shades and colors +were interviewed and interrogated by officers' wives, who meant to +provide themselves with luxuries for the journey; and new faces were +seen and scanned in the mess-room every day. + +The first day out from Fort Leavenworth we made but a few miles; the +general seemed bent only on getting his command away from the barracks, +for, though warned for weeks of the day of starting, there were those +who seemed as little prepared for the march now as they had been two +weeks ago. Well I remember the camp we made that first day--amid grass +so high that we felt and looked like ants moving among the blades--and +the confusion in our own establishment and that of our neighbors. The +advantages of having secured the services of an old army-woman became +apparent at this early stage. Without having at all consulted me, Mrs. +Melville had boiled a ham, and stowed bread, cheese, and sardines, where +she could readily lay hands on the articles, in the mess-chest. Coffee +was quickly cooked, and we could sit down to our meal and invite others +to it, before we had fairly realized the discomforts of a first night in +camp. + +A good woman was Mrs. Melville, but dreadfully tyrannical--domineering +ruthlessly over myself and her husband, and only in awe of the +lieutenant when he insisted on having his own way. They had always +served in the cavalry, and had now again enlisted (I mean the husband, +who drove our carriage, had enlisted) in the Third; and as Melville was +the only cavalry recruit with the command, it had been a matter of some +difficulty to appropriate him and his wife. It was not till the second +day, when we made camp, that I saw how large the command was; and I +remember thinking that it had taken since yesterday for the "tail-end" +of the train of wagons, mules, and horses to leave the corrals and get +into camp. When we left our camping-ground in the morning and returned +to the highway, there was a broad road with deep ruts behind us, and +hundreds of acres of prairie-land made bare and torn up, as though a +city had been swept away, where the day before no sign of human life had +been and the tall grass had waved untouched over the soft, black soil. +Fancy the tramp of eight hundred men, the keen, light-turning wheels of +a dozen or two of carriages, and the heavy, crunching weight of two +hundred army-wagons, drawn each by six stout mules! No wonder the grass +never grew again where General Sykes's command had passed! + +Besides the twelve hundred mules in the wagons, there were some two +hundred head extra, and a number of horses for the officers. All of +these animals had been drawn from the government corrals at Fort +Leavenworth; but I never realized how many there were, till one evening +about four days out from the fort. + +Elsewhere I have spoken of my white horse, Toby, who had so quickly +become domesticated that he _would_ insist on returning to our tent, no +matter how emphatically he was told that he must be turned out, and stay +with the rest of the herd. The mules had been accustomed to follow the +lead of a white "bell-mare" in the corrals; and as Toby was the only +white horse in the outfit, they became greatly attached to him, and +would follow him in his vagaries wherever he led. Unfortunately, when he +took his way back to the camp and to our tent this evening, the herders +were not on the alert as usual, and before they could turn the tide +there was a stampede, and a perfect overflow of mules in the camp. Such +yelling and bellowing as those animals set up, when they found +themselves floundering among the tents, and belabored with clubs, ropes, +and picket-pins by the enraged soldiers, was never heard before nor +since. Even Toby's serenity was disturbed, and he stood half-way in the +tent, trembling, and looking as though he knew that the wagon-master was +making his way to our settlement. Though I could forgive the man's rage, +as he pushed the horse to one side and passed into the tent, neither the +lieutenant nor myself took kindly to his offer to "shoot the horse the +next time he undertook to stampede the herd;" and I held close on to +Toby till the mules were driven back, and the wagon-master's wrath had +cooled. + +Truth to tell, before the next forty-eight hours were over, I was +wellnigh converted to the belief that we had drawn the meanest stock the +government-stables had ever contained. I forgot to say that each of the +officers had been assigned a company of the recruits, and as they +marched with them, we ladies were left in our carriages alone. No sooner +was the command fairly on the road this morning than Molly and Jenny, a +pair of green mules drawing our carriage, fell to jumping and kicking on +a rough piece of ground, and a moment later the carriage was laid prone +on one side, while I quietly clambered out on the other. A chorus of +little screams went up from the rest of the carriages--expressing more +horror, I think, at my getting up without the assistance of the doctor, +who came flying up on his square-headed bay, than at the accident +itself. + +This was not enough of evil for the day. We made camp early (the general +made not over fifteen miles a day when first starting out with the +recruits), and Molly and Jenny, fastened to each other by a light chain +around the neck, followed Toby through the camp, where they had come to +be accepted as standing nuisances. Away up near the general's tent, Toby +must have fancied there was good grazing, for he went there, the two +mules _en train_. What followed I learned from the grinning orderly, who +rapped at our tent soon after, holding the mules by the chain, and +saying that "the general sent his compliments to the lieutenant, and +he'd shoot the mules, and the white horse too, the next time they pulled +the tent-fly down over him." + +I looked stealthily out, and saw Toby in the distance, contemplatively +switching his tail, and half a dozen men at work re-erecting the +general's tent. The story was too good to keep; and the general himself +told how, lying asleep on his cot, under the tent-fly, where it was +cool, he had been waked up by Toby's nose brushing his face. Raising +himself, and hurling one boot and an invective at the horse, he was +surprised at seeing the two mules trying to stare him out of countenance +at the open end of the fly. The other boot was shied at them, but there +was no time to send anything else. The chain fastening the mules +together had become twisted around, the pole holding up the fly, and the +precipitate retreat of the long-eared pair brought the heavy canvas down +on the general's face. + +Would I could end my "tale of woe" right here; but a love of truth +compels me to say that the meanness of that horse seemed endless, and +his capacity for wickedness was such that portions of it fell on Molly +and Jenny, when a particularly rich harvest rewarded his efforts at +deviltry. When Toby came to the tent-door, early next morning, I noticed +a strangely bright polish on his fore-hoofs, and a suspicious greasiness +about his nose and face. Molly and Jenny had greasy streaks running all +over them, and seemed so well fed that I wondered to myself which of the +officers' horses had to suffer last night, and go supperless to bed. +Toby sniffed disdainfully at the bread I offered him, and turned to walk +off very suddenly when he saw Melville coming toward the tent. I must +explain that the tents were always pitched in the same order--the +lieutenant's on one side of us; Captain Newbold's on the other; the +baggage-wagon assigned to each officer drawn up behind the tent; the +mules, of course, turned out with the rest of the herd. Melville +pointed to the wagon behind Captain Newbold's tent, where a knot of men +were gathered, bending to the ground; but he seemed too full for +utterance. Almost instinctively I knew what he wanted to tell me. +Newbold had brought two large jars of butter with him from Leavenworth, +and Toby had encountered them last night, wiping his mouth on Molly and +Jenny when he found the butter not to his taste. Over and above that, he +had hauled six or eight grain-sacks out of the wagon, opened the sacks +with his teeth, and scattered the grain for the two mules to eat. + +I wanted to kill Toby on the spot; for the Newbolds were the best of +neighbors, sharing with us, through the whole of that journey, the milk +their cow (the only one with the whole train) was pleased to give. Not a +word of complaint was heard from the captain or his little wife; but I +did hope honestly that the miserable white horse might die of his extra +feed of butter and oats. + +In the evening Colonel Lane gathered the ladies together, led us to the +top of a hill, and pointed out where Fort Riley lay, like a grand +fortress, with long, white walls, rising on a green eminence. We reached +it next day by night-fall, and though camped several miles outside of +it, there were so many things which we found we actually needed, and +which could only be had at this, the last post of any importance, that +the greater number of officers were constantly to be seen between the +sutler-store and the saddler-shop, the quartermaster's office and the +corrals. + +After a rest of three days, we took up the line of march again through +prairie-land, dotted with farms and broken by forests and streams, +through which (after having crossed the Kansas river at Manhattan, on a +pontoon-bridge, before reaching Fort Riley) the soldiers seemed to think +it rare sport to wade, barefooted, carrying shoes and stockings in their +hands. + +The country grew wilder and more desolate; and passing a farm-house one +day, near which there were buffaloes grazing in the pasture with oxen +and cows, it seemed nothing extraordinary, though, of course, we did not +see the buffalo in his native freedom till some time after. At Ellsworth +(now Fort Harker) we halted again for a day, and then gradually entered +the wilderness. Fort Zarah seems to have grown where it is, only to help +make the country look sadder and more desolate; but the well they have +is splendid. I think so at least, for I was _so_ thirsty when we turned +in there at noon, though we continued the march and did not make camp. +The general seemed to consider the feet of his men fully seasoned by +this time; and they certainly made some hard days' marches before they +reached Fort Union. The days' marches were harder for them than they +were for us, on the whole; though many a time, creeping slowly over the +tediously level ground, did I wish that I could march with them, or help +drive mules, or lead horses--anything rather than sit in the carriage +for hours, the sun beating down in just the same direction, the men in +front moving along in just the same measure. But there was something +grand about it at the same time--a forest of bayonets in front of us, an +endless train of wagons behind us, moving silently through the solemn +wilds; hosts of red-winged black-birds fluttering along with us, the +rarer blue-jay flying haughtily over their heads. + +There was always something to see; the prairie-flowers were so +dazzlingly colored some days, or the rock lay in such odd strata; and in +one place we saw the remains of some rough fortifications built of the +rocks--thrown up hastily, perhaps, one day when the party of brave +emigrants spied "ye noble savage" bearing down on them. In camp +everything looked pleasant and cheerful. The general had traversed the +country more than once, knew every spring on the road, and had the +camping-ground kept so neat that we could have stopped in one place a +good many days without any discomfort. Beyond that, he was courteous and +thoughtful of our comfort, as only a soldier can be; and there was not a +lady "marching with the command" who would not have voted him a +major-general of the United States army, or into the Presidential chair, +if he had preferred it. + +At Fort Dodge, where officers and men burrowed half under ground (at +that time), I had not the least desire to remain. However, a few miles +back, where the river makes the bend, there is a singular grandeur about +the country, with nothing to break the utter loneliness, save the sad, +heavy murmur of the water. And now we are out on the plains again; day +after day we travel over land that lies so level and so still that not a +being but the lark seems living here beside us. How hot and fierce the +sun glares down on the slowly-winding column--a serpent it seems, with +its length outstretched, as it moves over the bare, brown prairie. The +spirit grew oppressed, and the heart fainted in the noon-day sun; the +command to halt was always received with joy; and more than once we had +to make forced marches to reach water. Yet we lost but one man out of +the eight hundred, and he died the day we struck the Arkansas +again--died in the road almost--and we carried him with us to camp; and +at night, when the stars had come out and tear-drops hung in the eyes of +the flowers by the river-bank, they carried him to his lonely grave. I +went to the tent-door when I heard the muffled drums, and stood outside, +in the dark, where I could see the short procession passing. Lanterns +were carried in the train that moved ghostly away from the camp-fires +and the white-looming tents. The grave was not far, and when they had +lowered the coffin I saw the form of a man bowing over it, as though in +prayer, and then the earth was shovelled back. The soldiers returned +with measured tread, and left their comrade on the wide, lone prairie, +with only the Arkansas to sing his dirge. + +I went to sleep with tears in my eyes; but we were to make an early +start in the morning, and before daybreak we were all awake and astir. +Sadness could not live in the heart those early mornings, and I thought +sometimes the general had _reveille_ sounded so early purposely, to show +us how beautiful Nature was at sunrise. + +Sunrise on the plains! Is there anything in music, in painting, in +poetry, that can bring before eyes that have never beheld it, the +passing beauty of such a scene? There are strains in music which bring a +faint shadow of the picture back to me; no art can ever reproduce it. +How balmy the faint breath of wind that seems to lift upward the light, +gray clouds, to make way for the rosy tints creeping athwart the +horizon! Watch the clouds as they rise higher in the heavens; see how +the sun-god has kissed them into blushes as bright as the damask-rose, +sending a flood of yellow light to cover them with greater confusion. +Now they float gently upward till they reach the clear, blue sky, from +where the yellow light has faded; and, watching bevies of other clouds, +still dancing in the light above the first rays of the rising sun, the +color fades from them, and they waft hither and thither--white clouds on +deep blue ground--till the morning breeze bears them away from our +sight. But words are weak and tame; and the yellow-breasted prairie-lark +alone, rising high in the sun-bright air as the day begins, gives fit +expression to her thanks for the glories of creation, in the wordless +song she sings forever. + +We were always far on the day's journey before the sun was fairly up; it +was very early, to be sure, and often as the tents were struck when the +_générale_ was sounded, the families occupying them could be seen +tumbling out, the children only half-dressed; and it happened sometimes +that carriages were left behind, when not ready to fall into line when +the march was beaten. In times of danger from Indians, of course, this +would not have happened; but at that time there was thought to be no +danger, except at night. + +Mrs. Melville had developed into an unmitigated tyrant, and one of her +victims was an Englishman, a raw recruit, who had been given the +lieutenant as servant. His name was either Ackley or Hackley, Ockley or +Hockley. If he insisted it was one, Mrs. Melville said it was the other; +and so completely cowed was he at last that he no longer dared to assert +his right to any name. I often thought it was a national revenge she was +wreaking on the poor fellow (she and her husband had sprung from the +Emerald Isle). He had to do all the work that should have fallen to her +share, and he never had a moment to spare for the lieutenant or myself. +From the first day of starting, I had detected, among the detail of men +sent to pitch our tent, a countryman of mine, a poor Dutchman, the +greenest of his kind. I electrified him one day by speaking German to +him, and ever after his pale, worn face would brighten, and his eyes +light up, when I asked of him any little service or assistance. The +general, knowing me to be a German, allowed the man to wait on us; and +Mohrman was happy as a king when he could fondle Toby, or put our tent +to rights, and fix things comfortably for me in the carriage. He was a +cabinet-maker, and the camp-table he made for us was the envy of the +whole camp. The poor fellow was weak in the chest (something unusual for +one of his nationality), and a big Irish corporal, who was a good enough +fellow otherwise, had always imposed on Mohrman, because he was ignorant +of the language, and could make no complaint to his officer. He +continued to bear with Stebbins's petty persecutions like a saint, till +one morning he made his appearance at the tent-door, with tears in his +eyes, and complained that the corporal had deprived him of the last +thing he had left, coming from the "Fatherland"--his _Gesang-Buch_, +which his mother had given him on the day of confirmation. + +I stepped outside, where Corporal Stebbins with his detail stood, +waiting to strike the tent at the sounding of the _générale_. There was +a lurking grin on the corporal's face, as he approached at my summons. + +"Corporal," said I, "have you Mohrman's book?" + +"Sure, ma'am, and is it his prayer-book the poor b'y wants? Ye see, he +complained yesterday that his knapsack was so heavy that he couldn't +pack me blankets; so I thought I'd carry this for him a while;" and, +amidst a half-suppressed snicker, he solemnly drew forth from his +capacious pocket a big black hymn-book, substantially German-looking, +about ten inches in length by five inches across. + +"I'll take that book," said I, looking severe, and turning very quickly +to hide my face. + +After this Mohrman seemed to have more peace; and we journeyed on +serenely till we reached Fort Lyon, Colorado, the first human habitation +we had laid eyes on for many weeks. Sterile and rock-strewn as the +country is, it was the boast of the post commander that he had as fine a +company-garden as could be seen, twenty miles away from here; to which +his wife added, "the only pity was that the vegetables should always be +dry and wilted before they reached the garrison." + +I was well pleased to think that our destination lay beyond Fort Lyon; +though there were those among the ladies who so dreaded the crossing of +the Arkansas just before us, and the passage of the Raton Mountains +later, that they would have remained here, where no flower could be +coaxed into blossom, rather than have gone on. The Arkansas river was to +be crossed at Bent's old fort, where the overland mail-stage also had +its crossing. The carriages were discreetly sent a mile or two above the +fording-place, for the soldiers--poor fellows--had to swim across, their +clothes, knapsack, and gun in one hand, while with the other they held +to the stout ropes stretched from shore to shore. Not a man of the eight +hundred was lost. There were mounted men in the river, ready to lend a +helping hand at the first cry for aid, and they all crossed safely, +though many, I dare say, in fear and trembling. When the men were over, +the married officers were permitted to join the ladies, and we were +ferried across in the skiff belonging to the stage line, for which +little water-excursion we paid two dollars a head to the Overland Mail +Company. Carriages and wagons were brought over by the wagon-master and +teamsters; and when the whole train was on the other side, we thought we +had spent rather a pleasant day. + +Like sailors scanning the edge of the horizon for land, so the soldiers +had for days been watching the nearer approach of the Spanish Peaks +looming faintly in the distance, and breaking the grand monotone of the +level, changeless plain, verging, where the eye could see no further, +into limitless space. Those who had been out this way before commenced +talking of the "Picketwire," and the beautiful valleys we should see, +and the big onions the Mexicans would bring to the camp to sell. After a +while I discovered that the "Picketwire" was a little river--the +"Purgatoir" or "Purgatory"--along whose banks the Mexican raised +vegetables and fruit, of which I saw specimens, later, in the big onion +spoken of. I had not been in California then, and the onions produced +there, of the size of a large saucer, certainly had a stunning effect on +me. + +I am not prepared to say why the little river was called Purgatory. For +the most part the country was good enough--lovely, even; and sometimes +grand. One or two days seemed rather purgatorial though, come to think +of it. On one occasion we passed through steep, barren hills, strewn all +over with little cylindrical pieces of iron, that looked exactly as +though they had been melted in that place just below purgatory, and +thrown up here to cool. Another day we marched along the bed of a river, +over boulders from three to six feet high; if _we_ did not think it +purgatory, the horses and mules certainly did. But the worst day of all +remained. + +It broke at last--the dreaded day in which the Raton Pass was to be +attempted. The horrors of the Pass, however, must have been less vivid +in the eyes of the general than in the minds of the ladies belonging to +his command; for, contrary to all hopes and expectations, he allowed +none of the married officers to remain with the carriages. It was a +"steep" pass, undeniably. To this day I have not forgotten the sound of +the grating of the wheels on the bare, unmitigated rock, as the carriage +made ascents and descents that were truly miraculous--one wheel pointing +heavenward sometimes, while the other three were wedged in below; +scraping along a rock wall, bounding from rock to rock, with the +pleasant prospect, on the other side, of a launch from a jagged, +well-deep precipice, into eternity. + +The crowning point to our terror, and to the grandeur of the scene, was +a fearfully inclined plane of solid rock, with a frowning bank on one +side, a gaping drop-off on the other, and a dark, heavy wall rising +square in front of us; against which, to all appearances, the mules must +dash their brains out, for neither bit nor brake was of the least avail +on this road. Just where the crash against the wall seemed inevitable, +there was a narrow curve, and the road ran on in spite of the seeming +impossibility. True to the saying, that there is but a step from the +sublime to the ridiculous, I fell to laughing here, so that Melville +turned in surprise to see whether fear and terror had robbed me of my +sober senses; but I had seen in passing, painted on that dreadful wall +of frowning rock, the cabalistic words and signs: "Old Cabin Bitters; +S---- T---- 1860 ---- X----;" and below this, "Brandreth's Vegetable +Pills." + +These horrors past, there lay before us valleys, hills, crags--that +formed as picturesque a landscape as tourist's eye was ever gladdened +by. At the foot of tall, straight pines, crowning the heights and +covering the sloping hill-sides, was a carpet of short, soft grass, out +of which laughed the merriest flower-eyes, and over which nodded the +slenderest stalks, bearing blossoms that seemed exotic in their +intensely bright hues. The balm-laden breath of the wind told enticing +tales of the untrod velvet on the heights above, where the pine-trees +bent and swayed in the passing breeze. We had come upon this all so +unexpectedly that the lieutenant insisted on my mounting Toby to obtain +a better view of the whole country. My saddle was in the wagon +somewhere, and there was no time to hunt it up; but as I had seen Mrs. +Lane start off on the colonel's horse and saddle sometime before, I +clambered on Toby's back at once, into the lieutenant's saddle. By +crossing some little low hills, which the command had to march around, I +found myself pretty soon ahead of the train. Not aware that we were to +pass any place where human beings dwelt, I kept bravely on--feeling all +the more safe from seeing Captain Newbold's cow, with her guardian, just +in front of me. When I saw a rude kind of gateway a little later, I +could not resist the promptings of my curiosity, and quite forgot the +command, which approached just then with beating drums and flying +colors. Had I realized how near they were upon me, I think my native +modesty would have prompted me to let General Sykes, with his command, +pass in front of me; but seeing Captain Newbold's cow march through the +gate, and an avenue of Mexican and Indian faces, I followed the lead, +barely escaping the feet of the drummer-boys, who were close on my +heels. + +It was the residence of an old pioneer--old Wooten--a pioneer in the +boldest sense of the word. In conversation with one of the officers, +when Kit Carson was mentioned, he spoke of him as being a comparative +stranger in these parts, having been in the country only some +twenty-five or thirty years. + +If, in the eyes of the straggling Mexicans gathered around, it was an +honor to ride in front of the command--next after Captain Newbold's +cow--that honor, and the privilege of riding in the lieutenant's saddle, +was dearly paid for before night. Determined not to have the +drummer-boys so close behind me again, I turned aside from the road, +lured on by the magnificent fresh, soft grass before me. Toby seemed +strangely averse to crushing the grass, for he stepped very gingerly, +and made two or three attempts to turn back. Sky-gazing, I urged him on, +till a sudden plunge he made had nearly thrown me out of the slippery +saddle, and for the first time I saw that the fresh, treacherous green +had only covered an ugly quagmire, in which Toby was wildly plunging +about, getting in deeper at every fresh effort to raise himself. The +command had nearly passed; only Colonel Bankhead lingered behind, +picking the rare flowers for his wife--gallant man!--and my wild shouts +caused him to look around. It was a slow job to rescue me; and by the +time I was on dry soil, the colonel's clothing was very much the color +of Toby's legs just then, for the frightened horse would not move a +step, and Colonel Bankhead--I repeat my thanks to him now--had made his +way into the horrible bog at the risk of his life almost. After this I +could let Toby have the reins, and go anywhere--he never got mired +again. But I took to the carriage that day, and never mounted Toby again +till we reached Fort Union, some time later. + +They were building very comfortable quarters at Fort Union when we got +in, but that did us no good. General Sykes had his camping-ground +assigned by General Carleton a mile or two outside the post; and our +place was with the Fifth Infantry, until our regiment should get in. Now +we used to strain our eyes looking for signs of "our regiment;" not that +we were not well enough off where we were, but we used to congregate at +the tent of some officer of the Third, and feel clannish, and speak of +the delight we should feel when "old Howe" got in with the regiment--all +out of sheer contrariness, I suppose. + +One day Melville rushed wildly into the tent, and announced a great dust +arising in the distance. We all rushed out, and a perfect fever took +possession of the camp--cavalry and infantry, officers and men. Tables +and mess-chests were brought out and spread; bottles were uncorked, and +fruit-cans opened; dried-apple pie (a great luxury, I assure you) and +salt pickles, raw sliced onions and raspberry jelly, were joyfully +placed side by side. + +Nearer rolled the dust--slowly--slowly; a snail might have moved faster, +I thought, than this regiment, famed once as the Rifles, and blessed +with the reputation of being very unlike a snail in general character. +Mrs. Melville needed no stimulant to do her best; affection and ambition +prompted her alike--she had served with the Third before, and was now +again of them--and she worked like a beaver to have the table well +spread for the expected guests. The slow, heavy tramp of the approaching +troops shook the earth like far-off thunder; but the dust was so thick +that it was hard to tell where the soldiers left off and the wagons +commenced, while the train moved. At last there came the sudden clanging +of trumpets, so shrill and discordant that I put my hands up to my ears, +and then the command halted near our camp. + +Let no one dream of a band of gay cavaliers riding grandly into the +garrison on prancing steeds, and with flying banners! Alas, for romance +and poetry! Gaunt, ragged-looking men, on bony, rough-coated +horses--sun-burned, dust-covered, travel-worn, man and beast. Was there +nothing left of the old material of the dashing, death-daring Rifles? +Ah, well! These men had seen nothing for long weeks but the red, +sun-heated soil of the Red River country; had drank nothing but the +thick, blood-red water of the river; had eaten nothing but the one dry, +hard cracker, dealt out to them each day; for they had been led wrong by +the guide, had been lost, so that they reached Fort Union long after, +instead of long before, the Fifth Infantry. + +Their camping-ground was assigned them quite a distance from the Fifth, +and we rode over the next day to visit the ladies who had come with the +command. The difference between the two camps struck me all the more +forcibly, I presume, because General Sykes was famed for the order and +precision he enforced; and when we rode up to his tent two days later, +to bid him good-bye (the officers of the Third having received orders to +join their regiment), I exclaimed, in tones of mild despair: + +"Oh, general, can you not come with us, and take command of the Third?" + +He shook his head solemnly, looking over to the cavalry camp. + +"Nothing would give me greater pleasure, madame, than to accede to your +wishes; but really in this instance I must decline. _There are too many +unruly horses for me in that camp._" + +I hope the general meant only what he said; I hope too the Third will +forgive me, when I say that an old soldier in the ranks, a German, once +told me in confidence that every member of that regiment could pass +muster for the Wild Huntsman, so well known in the annals of terror in +German fable-history. + + +II. + +It was a novel court-martial, whose last sitting was held at the dead of +night, between Fort Union and Los Vegas, in New Mexico. Let no one think +that a love of the romantic induced the general commanding to order this +assembling at the "witching hour, when church-yards yawn," but dire +necessity--"the exigencies of the service," as they have it. General +Sykes, who was president of the court, was under orders to take up the +line of march with his infantry, on the day following, for Fort Sumner, +while Colonel Howe, with five companies of cavalry, was to proceed to +Fort Craig; and as General Carleton understood no joking in regard to +orders once issued, and as the board had not been able to finish up the +business brought before it while convened at Fort Union, this midnight +session was agreed upon--the command to separate and march in opposite +directions, as soon as the court adjourned. + +Of the prisoners at the bar, the lieutenant was one, though I have +forgotten for what heinous crime arraigned; doubtless the charges +against him and the other unfortunate wights were very grave and serious +in the eyes of their superior officers, though trivial they might be in +the estimation of civilians. Just as the gray dawn crept up the horizon, +the lieutenant entered the tent, where I was waiting, fully dressed for +the march, knowing that the tents would be struck as soon as the court +was over. + +Slowly the long train arranged itself, and lumberingly it wound its way +out of the camp, entered only at a late hour the evening before. The +blast of the bugle seemed fairly to cut the crisp morning air, and the +horses neighed and stamped, while here and there a mule couple--part of +the six attached to each wagon--would begin frisking and jumping, till +called to order by the blacksnake of the irritable driver. As the +lieutenant was under arrest, he was relieved from duty; and as this +state of things was likely to continue until the proceedings and +findings of the court had been sent to Washington and returned, we set +out with the intention of enjoying the journey as well as was possible +under the circumstances. We were expected to march with the command, but +in the rear of the cavalry, and preceding the army-wagons. The dust, +however, was anything but pleasant here, and as, altogether, Uncle Sam +holds the lines of government somewhat slacker in these frontier +countries, the lieutenant was allowed to take his carriage, the orderly, +and the wagon containing our tent and camp furniture, to the end of the +entire train. In this way we could make a halt, or an excursion into the +neighboring country, whenever we felt inclined, and could catch up again +with the command by the time it went into camp--where I was an object of +envy to the other ladies, whose husbands were not under arrest. + +Toward noon we reached Los Vegas, the first Mexican town I had +seen--Fort Union being but the entrance to New Mexico. The country +around Los Vegas is flat and uninteresting, but by no means barren, +though only a small portion of it is cultivated. A little stream, the +Gallinas, runs by the place, emptying later into the Rio Pecos; but the +Mexicans are not content with this water-course alone--they have dug +irrigating canals, which look again like little streams where grass and +wild flowers have sprung up on the banks. It is the only branch of art +or industry cultivated anywhere in New Mexico--this digging of +irrigating ditches--and in it the Mexicans surely excel. Wherever we see +a patch of green, we may be certain of finding canals on at least two +sides of it; and they can lead the water where a Yankee, with all his +ingenuity, would despair of bringing it. + +The houses of Los Vegas, though looking very much so to me then, are not +so hopelessly Mexican as those I found later along the Rio Grande and +farther in the interior. The houses were one story high, the roofs of +mud, of which material were also mantle-shelves, window-sills, walls and +floors. But the little enclosed fire-places, with overarching mantle, +were smooth and white, as were the walls; and the more pretentious +houses, and where Americans lived, were set with glass. In the houses of +the Mexicans I noticed that a width of red or yellow calico was tacked +smoothly up around the wall, at a distance of three or four feet from +the ground. The use of this drapery is just as incomprehensible to me +as what benefit the trunks derive from being placed on two chairs, while +the members of the family and visitors are requested to be seated on the +floor. But then it is not every New Mexican family that can boast of +having a trunk; and those who have one, and no chairs, build a kind of +platform or pedestal for it to rest on. + +The troops, while we were sight-seeing in Los Vegas, were not allowed to +halt at all, but marched on toward Puertocito, where camp was made. At +Fort Union a new driver had been assigned to our baggage-wagon--a little +monkey-faced old man, Manuel--who had addressed me in Spanish, early +that morning, praying that we should allow him to stop at Los Vegas, +where his wife and his "pretty little girls" were living. I understood +no Spanish, but his eyes looked so beseechingly when his request was +made known to me, that I was glad to tell him we should stop there. The +man was to go with us to the end of our journey, and it might be a long +time till he could see his people again. + +When the lieutenant sent the orderly for Manuel, with directions to move +on and overtake the command, I saw the old man tumbling out of a little +low house near by, his faithful wife and "pretty little girls" tumbling +out after him--half a dozen of the scrawniest, most apish-looking +specimens I ever saw of Spanish or Mexican people. For miles the "pretty +little girls" followed the father and the army-wagon, and wherever we +passed a house on the road, one or more women would come to the +door--large-eyed and sweet-voiced--wishing good-day and good-journey to +old Manuel. As far as my Spanish goes, _Puertocito_ signifies little +gate, or entrance. It should be Grand Gate, so majestically do rocks and +boulders arise from out of green meadows and tree-covered hillocks. + +Large flocks of sheep are herded here, and the whole is said to belong +to a Spanish widow lady, living either in Mexico or Spain. In the course +of my travels through the country, I met with accounts of this or some +other widow, owning fabulous stretches of land, mines, and treasures, so +often that I came to regard this widow-institution as a myth or a +humbug; but the people living here were always very earnest in their +assurances to the contrary. However this might be, it was a beautiful, +romantic spot, such as we came upon time and again in this strange +country. Well do I remember the succession of little narrow valleys on +the route between Fort Union and Santa Fé; the hard, smooth road, the +tall gramma-grass on each side of it, and the shapely-grown evergreens +bordering the lawn-like fields, till lines of taller trees, coming up +close to the road, seemed to divide off one little valley from the +other. Yet never a house did we see the whole of that day, though the +garden for many a one seemed ready planted by kind mother Nature's +hands. The land was but a desert, in spite of the waving grass and the +dark green trees. There was no water to be found for long, long weary +miles. + +Before we had been long on our journey, an unfortunate circumstance +brought us to doubt the honesty of poor old Manuel so seriously that it +had almost resulted disastrously to him. We had made camp not far from +San Jose, a place consisting of two and a half houses, on the Pecos +river. We were to cross the river here; and in the morning, when the +tents were being struck, and we were already seated in the carriage, +waiting for the mules to be harnessed to it, these same mules were +reported missing. The command moved on, of course, leaving our +baggage-wagon, our cook, our orderly, and ourselves, behind; the old +colonel chuckling to himself that as we were in the habit of looking out +for ourselves, we might do so on this occasion too. + +The mules were unharnessed from the wagon at once, Charley mounted on +one, Pinkan on the other, Manuel on the third, and the lieutenant on the +fourth, all starting off in different directions to search for the +truants, while I was left in charge of the other two mules and the rest +of our effects. A long time passed before any of them returned; and when +Charley came back, soon after the lieutenant, he said he had heard from +a Dutchman in San Jose that two mules answering the description had been +seen driven by a Mexican, just at daybreak, over the bridge near the +town; and the supposition now was that Manuel had sold them to some of +his countrymen, always going in gangs through the Territory. Manuel soon +came in, without the mules. When the lieutenant told him of his +suspicions his face fell; and when the vague threat of summary justice +to be executed was added, his shrivelled, monkeyish face grew livid, and +he turned to me trembling, and begging, for the sake of his "pretty +little girls," that I should intercede, and assure the lieutenant that +indeed, _indeed_, he hadn't stolen the mules. I felt sorry for the old +man; but just when things looked darkest for him, Pinkan was seen in the +distance driving up the runaways. + +The reaction of the fright experienced by old Manuel had the effect of +making him drunk when we got to San Jose (perhaps the _aguardiente_ +imbibed at the house of his _compadre_ had something to do with it, +too); and just as I was making my first trial of _chile-con-carne_ in +the low room of the Mexican inn, he came and spread before me, beside +the fiery dish which had already drawn tears from my eyes, papers +certifying that he had rendered good services as teamster in the Mexican +war, under General Zack Taylor, and could be trusted by Americans. If it +was laughable to see the air of pride with which he struck his breast, +declaring in Spanish that he was "a much honorable and brave man," there +was yet a touch of true dignity in the low bow he made while thanking me +for having called him an honest man, while the rest had taken him for a +horse-thief, a _ladrone_ and _picaro_. + +We easily caught up with the command at night, and laid our plans while +in camp for the next few days to come. The troops were not to pass +through Santa Fé, and, though we could have made the detour without the +colonel's knowledge, it was not safe to run into the very jaws of +danger, as General Carleton's headquarters were at Fort Marcy, and he +had probably returned to Santa Fé from Fort Union long before this time, +travelling with only an escort and the best mules in the department. We +had letters to Doctor Steck, "running" a gold-mine about thirty miles +from Santa Fé; and as the command passed near by, we started off into +the mountains where the mine lay. Wild and rugged as the scenery was, it +was not so dreary as I had always fancied every part of the Territory +must be. In some places it seemed as if man had done a great deal to +make the face of nature hideous. Great unseemly holes were dug here, +there, and everywhere--the red, staring earth thrown up, and then left +in disgust at not finding the treasures looked for. The company of which +Doctor Steck was superintendent seemed to have found the treasures, +however, for in their mill half a dozen stamps were viciously crushing +and crunching the rock brought down from the mountains above on +mule-back. + +The doctor is a Pennsylvanian, and he tried to have his ranch look as +much as possible like a Pennsylvania homestead. There were necessarily +slight deviations, more particularly in the furniture of the +dwelling-house, which here consisted mainly of double-barrelled +shot-guns and repeating rifles. These were merely a set-off, I presume, +to the chunks of gold he showed us (the size of a fist), each being a +week's "cleanup." There was quicksilver used in gaining the gold (what I +know about gaining gold is very little), and the doctor turned a stream +of water on the plates under the crushers, and then scraped up the gold +for me to look at. + +I did not learn till months later--though I readily believed it--that +this man could travel alone and unarmed through the midst of the Apache +country; and did he ever miss his road or want assistance, he had but to +make a signal of distress, when the savages would fly to him from their +lurking-places, shelter him, and guide him safely back to his white +brethren. This I learned first from an old Mexican guide at our camp, +who said that the Indians stood in awe of him as a great medicine-man, +and loved him for his uniform kindness to them. + +Santa Fé Mountain behind us, there were no more hills save the +sand-hills, that seem shifting and changing from day to day, so that +very often in the neighborhood of the Rio Grande, the river itself is +followed as a landmark, the land being more unreliable than the water. +The big sand-hill opposite Albuquerque, however, seems to be stationary; +people who had been here twenty years before remembered the location. + +There is something singular about these Mexican towns or cities. You +hear them spoken of as important places, where the law-givers and the +dignitaries of the American _régime_ reside, and where renowned families +of the Spanish period had their homes; where large commercial interests +lie, and where things flourish generally. When you approach them, a +collection of what seem only mud hovels lie scattered before you. You +look for order and regularity of streets, and you find yourself running +up against square mud-piles at every other step; you look for doors and +windows in these structures, and find a narrow opening, reaching to the +ground, on one side, and high up in the wall a little square hole +without glass or shutter. This is the first impression. But you are +compelled to remain at such a place; and as the eye grows to shrink less +from the sight of the hard clay and cheerless sand, you discover the +tips of the pomegranate tree peering curiously over the high mud wall +enclosing a neat _adobe_ with well-cultivated garden. In astonishment +you press your face to the railing of the rude gate, and directly the +soft voice of a dark-faced woman calls to you from within: "Enter, +_señora_; you are welcome!" + +When you leave the garden, where peaches, grapes, and pomegranates have +been showered on you, together with assurances of the kindest feelings +on the part of your hostess, the whole place somehow looks different. +There are streets and lanes which you did not notice before, where the +broad, double doors of the houses stand hospitably open, and the large +square windows, if not provided with sash and glass, are latticed in +fanciful designs, as we see them in old Spanish and Italian paintings. +And there is such a dreamy languor in the air; such a soft tint in the +blue of the heavens; such a wooing, balmy breeze, that seems to float +down from the mountain yonder. There is no necessity for keeping one's +eyes fixed on the sand-hill that hid Albuquerque from us at first. Look +over again to the mountain. Could artist with brush and pencil create +anything more perfect than the gentle rise away off there, over which +houses and vineyards are scattered, and which climbs up steeper and +higher, till the faintest shadow of a passing cloud seems resting on the +blue-green peak? And winding its way slowly from the foot of the +mountain, comes a train of black-eyed, barefooted Pueblo Indian women, +bearing on their heads home-made baskets filled to overflowing with +well-displayed fruit--melons, peaches, grapes--in such perfection, and +with such rich, ripe coloring, as are seldom found away from Mexico. + +Of historical interest, too, there is much in Albuquerque. The daughter +of a Spanish lady belonging to the old family of the Bacas, was married +to an officer in our army, and with her I visited the house of General +Armijo. The younger daughters alone received us, the older married +sister being sick or absent. The house was furnished with elegant +material--the heavy Brussels carpet spread out on the mud floor, +flowers and figures running up and down, just as the carpet had been cut +off at the length of the room, and then rolled back again and cut off at +the other end. The breadths were laid side by side, but not a stitch had +been taken to hold them together. Cushioned chairs were ranged along the +walls of the room, the line broken only where marble-top tables, +what-nots, and a Chickering piano were introduced among them--all set +against the wall without symmetry or taste. On the walls hung pictures, +in embroidery, water-colors, and oil, executed by the young ladies while +in a convent school; but in vain I looked for a picture of General +Armijo among them. It was here at Albuquerque that I saw for the first +time--and alas! the last--Kit Carson, and the less renowned but equally +brave Colonel Pfeiffer. + +Beyond Albuquerque the road lies again over the sand-hills and through +the valleys of the Rio Grande; and we lost our way among the hills one +day, when the command had passed but a short distance in advance of us. +For hours we toiled through the shifting sand, hoping that each mound we +climbed might bring the marching column to our view. Fortunately, +Manuel, with the wagon, had fallen in line with the train that morning, +and only Pinkan, riding the lieutenant's horse and leading mine, was +with us. The lieutenant was driving, and I could see from the way his +eyes wandered over the interminable range of low sand-hills that he was +completely bewildered. All at once we came on a house, which, from a +distance, we had taken to be another sand-pile; and the Mexicans living +here, after treating us to the best their house afforded--eggs, and the +sweet, unsalted goat-milk cheese--piloted us to Los Pinos, where we were +to camp for the night. Here the command crossed the Rio Grande--forded +it, bag and baggage--and the next day remained in camp below Peralta, +where the tents were pitched in a delightful grove of cottonwood trees. + +It has been said that a Mexican is born with a lasso in his hand. The +feat old Manuel performed with his was quite new to me. Wood was so +scarce that not the smallest bit of a dry limb or broken twig could be +found under the trees. The lower branches having been lopped off, and +the soldiers forbidden to cut down any trees, our old Mexican at once +went to work with his rope, throwing it so dexterously over the brittle +limbs that a snap and a crash followed every excursion of the rope. + +We made a flying trip to Peralta the next morning, while the command was +marching in the opposite direction. The place, with its pretty church +and scattered houses, surrounded by walled-in gardens, made quite a +pleasing impression. Then we turned back and joined the command. + +The road now was one continuous level, with hills, uniformly bare and +brown, in the distance. Bare and brown as they look, thousands of goats +are herded on them, and, to judge from the milk and cheese we got on the +road, find pretty good picking till such time as "Lo! the poor Indians" +think proper to drive off the herds for their own use, when they are in +most cases generous enough to leave the herders behind--dead. And the +sun, smiling down so placidly on the river and the little towns lying +near its banks, seems never to heed the death-cry of the helpless _peon_ +or the lonely wayfarer laid low in the dust by the prowling savage, but +goes on lighting up the cloudless sky-dome, and bringing into strong +relief the different features of scenery, life, and customs, that make a +journey through New Mexico resemble a sojourn in the Holy Land. Through +all those towns along the Rio Grande do we see the daughters of the +land, barefooted, their faces half hidden by the oriental-looking +_rebozo_, the earthen _olla_ poised gracefully on the head, going at +eventide to the well for water. Belen, Sabinal, Polvedaro--here are the +low-built houses, the flat roofs, the gray-green olive here and there; +even the wheaten cake, the _tortilla_, is set before the stranger when +he comes. Then this dead, dead silence! The barking of the dogs as we +come through the villages, the drawling sing-song of the children, +calling to each other at the unusual spectacle we present, seem hardly +to break the slumber of the mid-day air. + +So wearying as the one color--clay--grows to the eye! the ground, the +houses, the fence-walls, the bake-ovens, all, all the same color. Even +where there are gardens, with the enclosing wall seems to terminate +vegetation; never a vagabond grass-blade or a straggling vine can find +its way outside. Bake-ovens are an institution and a marked feature in +the landscape; every house has one, and as they are built with a +dome-like top, they are more pleasing to the eye than the houses, and +very often nearly as large. I remember seeing one day a dog and a little +naked child (clothing is considered superfluous on children) mount from +the mud fence to the top of the bake-oven, and from there to the house +roof, with no more difficulty than we would experience in going up a +flight of easy stairs. The bread that the Mexicans bake in these ovens +is the sweetest and whitest that can be found. + +Then came Socarro, where most of the officers spent the day, while the +command went into camp some miles below. An English family kept a very +pleasant house there, whose good cheer the old colonel had not forgotten +from long ago. The garden back of the neatly-built house I thought one +of the loveliest spots on earth; not from the fact alone that it +contained flowers and some few tall trees, but from the view it afforded +of the far-off mountain--probably of the Sierra Maddalena chain, but +called Socarro Mountain here. There was the same dreamy haze that hung +over the mountain near Albuquerque, and the same bluish-green tint that +made it appear wooded to the top. A hot spring takes its rise in the +mountain somewhere, and the tiny stream at my feet seemed hardly cold +yet, though its waters had travelled many miles from its source. + +Fort Craig, though an important military post, is not celebrated for the +beauties or grandeur of the country surrounding. We crossed the Rio +Grande here again--two companies only, the colonel, with the other +three, having been assigned to Fort Craig. Toward the Jornada del Muerto +we journeyed, making camp before entering the desert at Parajo, the Fra +Cristobal of the Texan Santa Fé prisoners who were driven through here +in 1842, on their long, weary journey to the city of Mexico. They had +been captured, or rather tricked into a surrender, near Anton Chico, +and, from Albuquerque down, I traced them all along the Rio Grande. They +had been marched on the opposite side of the river, taking in their way +Sandia, Valencia, Tome, Casa Colorada, and La Joya, crossing the river +at Socarro, and recrossing probably near where Fort Craig now stands. + +Such heart-rending tales as were told us of the sufferings and the +diabolical treatment of these helpless men--mere youths, some of them, +the sight of whom brought out all the native tenderness, the true +charity there is in the heart of every Mexican woman! As in Albuquerque, +the shadow of Governor Armijo--tall and stately, though with something +of a braggart in his carriage, and the glare of a hyena in his eye--was +ever rising before me, so in this wretched place did I seem always to +hear the gentle, pitying "_Pobrecitos!_" of the kind-hearted women, who +brought the last bit of _tornale_, the last scrap of _tortilla_ that +their miserable homes afforded, to these men who were so soon to be +driven like cattle, and shot down like dogs, when their bleeding feet +refused to carry them further on their thorny path. Had the horrible +stretch of ninety-five miles of desert-land now before us not been +christened "Dead Man's Journey" before these unfortunates passed over +it, the baptism of the blood of those wantonly slaughtered there would +have fastened on it that name forever. + +Two companies of United States cavalry are not hastily attacked by ye +noble red man, and we slept peacefully on the Jornada--though close to +our tent, the first night, were two graves, dug for their murdered +comrades years ago by some of the men now in the company. + +A number of wagons had been loaded with water-casks, filled before +entering the Jornada, so that we did not suffer; yet we were all glad +when, on the third day, Fort Seldon was reached. After a rest of two +days, we once more crossed the river, on a ferry-boat moved with a rope, +leaving the other company at Fort Seldon, and proceeding alone, with the +last company, to the farthest out-post of the department. At this place +we disposed of our carriage to the post surgeon, as we were told that +among the mountains in the vicinity of Pinos Altos we should have no use +for it, while the officers of this garrison could make excursions to +Donna Ana, Los Cruces, and even La Messilla, over the level and rather +pleasant country. + +The first day out, a heavy rain-storm came on, and I was glad enough to +leave the saddle and seek shelter in the linen-covered army-wagon, where +Manuel arranged quite a comfortable bed for me--seat it could not be +called. And here let me say that, with bedding and blankets, spread over +boxes and bundles underneath, there is more comfort to be found in one +of these big wagons, where you can recline at full length, than in the +most elegant travelling-carriage, where you have always to maintain the +same position. + +The stretch between Fort Seldon and Fort Cummings proved harder for us +than the Jornada del Muerto. It was reported that large bands of Indians +were hovering round us, and we could make no fires to cook by, but were +hurried on as fast as possible. Many of the horses gave out and had to +be shot; and my poor Toby was sometimes so tired from carrying me over +the rough country, and up and down the rocky hills, that more then once +he stopped and nibbled at my stirrup-foot--asking me in this peculiar +language to dismount. + +The soldiers were better off than we were, for they had their rations of +hard-tack and salt bacon, which needed no cooking; while the dressed +chickens and tender-steaks we had providently brought from Fort Seldon +with us, uncooked, were going to decay in the provision-box, and we +might have gone hungry had not the men divided with us. No one can think +how sweet a bit of bacon tastes with a piece of hard-tack, when offered +by a soldier whose eyes are shining with honest delight at being able to +repay some trifling kindness shown him on the march. + +The rock-strewn mountains of Cook's cañon frowned darkly on us as we +made our way into Fort Cummings. The sable garrison, it is said, never +ventured beyond the high mud walls with less than twenty-five in the +party, were it only to bring a load of wood from the nearest grove of +scanty timber. + +At no post, I am fain to confess, have I seen a larger number of +mementos of Indian hostility than at this fort. And the negroes had all +the more cause to dread attacks from the Indians, as they had been +accosted the first time they went out--a fatigue-party, to cut wood--by +an Indian chief, who told them that he was their brother, and that it +was their duty to come and join his band against their common enemy, the +white man. The black braves refused, returning to the post without their +load of wood; and since that time no fatigue-party ever returned that +did not bring back at least one of their number dead or wounded. + +The last thing we did before leaving this post was to stop at the large +basin of water, Cook's Spring, there to drink, and let the animals +drink, a last draught of the pure, clear flood. How many a heart had +this spring gladdened, when its sight broke on the longing eyes of the +emigrant, before human habitations were ever to be found here! Just at +the foot of the rough, endless mountain, the men who had come under +protection of our train from Fort Cummings pointed out where the two +mail-riders coming from Camp Bayard--our destination--had been ambushed +and killed by the Indians only the week before. I had heard of these two +men while at the Fort, one of whom, a young man hardly twenty, seemed to +have an unusually large number of friends among men of all classes and +grades. When smoking his farewell pipe before mounting his mule for the +trip to Camp Bayard, he said: "Boys, this is my last trip. Mother writes +that she is getting old and feeble; she wants me to come home; so I've +thrown up my contract with Uncle Sam, and I'm going back to Booneville +just as straight as God will let me, when I get back from Bayard. It's +hard work and small pay, anyhow--sixty dollars a month, and your scalp +at the mercy of the red devils every time you come out." The letter was +found in the boy's pocket when the mutilated body was brought in. + +It was no idle fancy when I thought I could see the ground torn up in +one place as from the sudden striking out of horses' hoofs. One of the +men confirmed the idea that it was not far from the place where the body +had been found. The mule had probably taken the first fright just there, +where the rider had evidently received the first arrow, aimed with such +deadly skill that he fell in less than two minutes after it struck him. + +This gloomy spot passed, the country opened far and wide before us; +level and rather monotonous, but with nothing of the parched, sterile +appearance that makes New Mexico so dreaded by most people. Trees were +few and far between; but later, where the Mimbres river rolls its placid +waters by, there are willows, and ash even, as I have heard people +affirm. But I must not forget the hot spring we camped by for an hour +or two, the _Aqua Caliente_ of the Mexicans. A square pond, to approach +which you must clamber up a natural mud wall some two feet high, lay +bubbling and steaming near the shade of some half dozen wide-spreading +trees. That corner of the pond where the water boils out of the earth +had once been tapped, apparently, and the water led to the primitive +bath-tubs, made by digging down into the hard, clayey ground. A +dismantled building showed that the place had at some time been +permanently occupied, which was said to be the case by the Mexican +family living under one of the trees, and who were sojourning here for +the purpose of having life restored to the paralyzed limbs of one of the +children. The people who had lived here were driven off by Indians, but +I have heard since that the place had been rebuilt. + +The second day after leaving Fort Cummings we came in sight of a lovely +valley, enclosed on all sides by low wooded hills, with bold, +picturesque mountains rising to the sky beyond. A clear brook--so clear +that it was rightly baptized Minne-ha-ha--gambolled and leaped and +flashed among the green trees and the white tents they overhung; and in +their midst a flag-staff, at whose head the stars and stripes were +flying, told me that we had reached our journey's end. + + + + +_TO TEXAS, AND BY THE WAY._ + + +I had not seen New Orleans since I was eight years of age, and to Texas +I had never been; so I was well pleased with the prospect of visiting +the southern country. To one coming direct from California, overland by +rail, it seems like entering a different world--a world that has been +lying asleep for half a century--when the great "pan-handle" route is +left to one side, and Louisville once passed. Though we know that the +country was not asleep--only held in fetters by the hideous nightmare, +Civil War--I doubt if the general condition of things would have been in +a more advanced state of prosperity if the old order of affairs had +remained unchanged, as the march of improvement seems naturally to lag +in these languid, dreamy-looking southern lands. + +The line between the North and the South seems very sharply drawn in +more respects than one. We were scarcely well out of Louisville before +delays and stoppages commenced; and though the country was pleasant +enough to look at in the bright, fall days, it was not necessary to stop +from noon till nightfall in one place, to fully enjoy the pleasure. +Another drawback to this pleasure was the reliance we had placed on the +statement of the railroad agent, who told us it was quite unnecessary to +carry a lunch-basket "on this route." Since we had found a lunch-basket, +if not really cumbersome, at least not at all indispensable, from +Sacramento to Omaha, we saw no reason why we should drag it with us +through a civilized country, and consequently suffered the penalty of +believing what a railroad ticket-agent said. In another section of the +same sleeping-car with us was a party who had been wiser than we, and +had brought loads of provisions with them. No wonder: they were +Southerners, and had learned not to depend on the infallibility of their +peculiar institutions. + +The head of the party was a little lady of twenty-five or thirty years, +with pale, colorless face, and perfectly bloodless lips. I should have +gone into all sorts of wild speculations about her--should have fancied +how a sudden, dread fright had chased all the rosy tints from her lips +back to her heart, during some terrible incident of the war; or how the +news, too rashly told, of some near, dear friend stricken down by the +fatal bullet, had curdled the red blood in her veins, and turned it to +ice before it reached her cheeks--had she not been so vigorous and +incessant a scold. Now it was the French waiting-maid to whom she +administered a long, bitter string of cutting rebukes, while the +unfortunate girl was lacing up my lady's boots; next it was her younger +sister--whom she was evidently bringing home from school--whose lips she +made to quiver with her sharp words; and then, for a change, the mulatto +servant was summoned, by the well-scolded waiting-maid, to receive his +portion of the sweets meted out. An ugly thing she was, and so different +from the Southern lady I had met in the hotel at Louisville--one of the +most beautiful women I have ever seen--whose grace nothing could exceed +as she handed me a basket of fruit across the table, when one glance had +told her that I was a stranger and tired out with the heat and travel. + +But, in spite of what I have said, I must confess that I accepted the +sandwiches the little scold sent us, for the supper-station was not +reached till eleven o'clock at night. As the conductor promised us +another good, long rest here, the gentlemen left the ladies in the cars, +and returned after some time, followed by a number of negroes, who +carried a variety of provisions and divers cups of coffee. I thought, +of course, that it was luncheon brought from some house established at +the station for that purpose; but was told that the chicken the mulatto +boy was spreading before us had been abstracted from his massa's +hen-yard, and that the eggs the old negro was selling us had not by any +means grown in his garden. Only the coffee, which was sold at +twenty-five cents a cup, was a legitimate speculation on the part of +some white man (I am sure his forefathers were from the State of Maine), +who went shares with the negro peddling it, and charged him a dollar for +every cup that was broken or carried off on the cars, which accounted +for the sable Argus' reluctance to leave our party till we had all +swallowed the black decoction and returned the cups. + +We were to take dinner at Holly Springs, some time next day; and it +_was_ "some time" before we got there, sure enough. We had picked up an +early breakfast somewhere on the road, and when the dinner-bell rang at +the hotel as the cars stopped, we did not lose much time in making our +way to the dining-room. The door, however, was locked, and we stood +before it like a drove of sheep, some hundred or two people. Through the +window we could see mine host, in shirt-sleeves and with dirty, matted +beard, leisurely surveying the crowd outside; in the yard, and on the +porch near us, stood some barefooted negroes, with dish-cloth and napkin +in hand, staring with all their might at train and passengers, as though +they were lost in speechless wonder that they should really have come. +In the party with us was a Californian, some six feet high, who, though +a Southerner by birth, had lived too long in California to submit +patiently to the delay and inconvenience caused by the "shiftlessness" +of the people hereabouts. + +"Now, you lazy lopers," he called to the darkies, swinging the huge +white-oak stick he carried for a cane, "get inside to your work. And if +that door ain't opened in five seconds from now, I'll break it down with +my stick." + +He drew his watch; and, either because of his determined voice, or his +towering figure, the darkies flew into the kitchen, and the landlord +sprang to open the door, while the crowd gave a hearty cheer for the big +Californian. + +New Orleans seemed familiar to me; I thought I could remember whole +streets there that I had passed through, as a little child, clinging to +the hand of my father--himself an emigrant, and looking on all the +strange things around him with as much wonder as the two little girls he +was leading through the town. How it came back to me! the slave-market, +and the bright-faced mulatto girl, hardly bigger than myself, who so +begged of my father to buy her and take her home with him, so that she +could play with and wait on us. There was nothing shocking to me, I +regret to say, in seeing this laughing, chattering lot of black humanity +exposed for sale, though my good father doubtlessly turned away with a +groan, when he reflected on what he had left behind him, in the old +fatherland, to come to a country where there were liberty and equal +rights for all. I can fancy now what he must have felt when he spoke to +the little woolly-head, in his sharp, accentuated dialect, which his +admirers called "perfect English," as he passed his hand over her cheek +and looked into her face with his great, kind eyes. He said he had +brought his children to a free country, where they could learn to work +for themselves, and carve out their own fortunes; and where they must +learn to govern themselves, and not govern others. + +Day after day, on foot or in carriage, we rambled through the streets, +and I never addressed a single question to the driver or any of the +party, satisfied with what information accidentally fell on my +half-closed ear. I was living over again one of the dreams of my early +days: the dream I had dreamed over again so often, among the snows of +the biting, cold Missouri winter, and on the hot, dusty plains of +Arizona, amid the curses of those famishing with thirst and the groans +of the strong men dying from the fierce stroke of the unrelenting sun. +Passing through the parks and by the marketplaces, I saw again the negro +women, with yellow turbans and white aprons, offering for sale all the +tempting tropical fruits which foreigners so crave, and still dread. And +I thought I saw again the white, untutored hands of my father, as he +laboriously prepared seats for us in the deepest shade of the park, and +dealt out to us the coveted orange and banana. The cool, delicious +fruit, and the picture of flowers and trees in the park; the black, +kindly faces of the negro servants, and the laughing, white-clad +children at play--how often I had seen them again in my dreams on the +desert! + +Canal street looked lonely and deserted, as did the stores and shops +lining either side of the broad, aristocratic street. The material for a +gay, fashionable promenade was all there; only the people were wanting +to make it such. True, there were groups occasionally to be seen at the +counters of the shops, but in most such cases a black, shining face +protruded from under the jaunty little bonnet, perched on a mass of +wool, augmented and enlarged by additional sheep's-wool, dyed black. One +of these groups dispersed suddenly one day, vacating the store with all +the signs of the highest, strongest indignation. The tactless +storekeeper, who had not yet quite comprehended the importance and +standing of these useful members of society, had unwittingly offended an +ancient, black dame. She had asked to see some silks, and the shopkeeper +had very innocently remarked, "Here, aunty, is something very nice for +you." + +"I wish to deform you, sir," replied Aunt Ebony, bridling, "that my name +is Miss Johnson." With this she seized her parasol and marched out of +the store, followed by her whole retinue, rustling their silks, in +highest dudgeon. + +On my way to the ferry, when leaving New Orleans for Texas, I saw +something that roused all the "Southern" feeling in me. Two colored +policemen were bullying a white drayman, near the Custom-house. I must +confess I wanted to jump out, shake them well, take their clubs from +them, and throw them into the Mississippi (the clubs, I mean, not the +precious "niggers"). What my father would have said, could he have seen +it, I don't know; the grass had long grown over his grave, and covered +with pitying mantle the scars that disappointments and a hopeless +struggle to accomplish purposes, aimed all too high, leave on every +heart. + +As the cars carried us away from the city, and gave us glimpses of the +calm water, and the villas, and orange-groves beyond, there came to me, +once more, + + + "The tender grace of a day that is dead." + + +It was just a soft, balmy day as this, years ago, when we lay all day +long in a bayou, where the water was smooth and clear as a mirror, and +the rich grass came down to the water's edge; and through the grove of +orange and magnolia, the golden sunlight sifted down on the white walls +and slender pillars of the planter's cottage. Stalwart negroes sang +their plaintive melodies as they leisurely pursued their occupation, and +birds, brighter in plumage than our cold, German fatherland could ever +show us, were hovering around the field and fluttering among the growing +cotton. + +The graceful villa was still there, and the glassy waters still as +death; but the villa was deserted, and the rose running wild over +magnolia-tree and garden-path; the cotton-field lay waste, and the +negro's cabin was empty, while the shrill cry of the gay-feathered birds +alone broke the silence that had hopelessly settled on the plantation. +Farther on, I saw the cypress-forests and the swamps, and I fancied that +the trees had donned their gray-green shrouds of moss because of the +deep mourning that had come over the land. The numberless little bayous +we crossed were black as night, as though the towering trees and the +tangled greenwood, under which they crawled along, had filled them with +their bitter tears. But the sun shone so brightly overhead, that I shook +off my dark fancies, particularly when my eyes fell on the plump, white +neck and rounded cheeks of the lady in the seat before me. I had noticed +her at the hotel in New Orleans, where I recognized her at once as a +bride, though she had abstained, with singularly good taste, from +wearing any of the articles of dress outwardly marking the character. I +hoped, secretly, that I might become acquainted with her before the +journey ended, for there was something irresistibly charming to me in +her pleasant face and unaffected manner. My wish was soon gratified; for +the very first alligator that came lazily swimming along in the next +bayou so filled her with wonder, that she quickly turned in her seat and +called my attention to it. Soon came another alligator, and another; and +some distance below was a string of huge turtles, ranged, according to +size, on an old log. As something gave way about the engine at this +time, we could make comments on the turtle family at our leisure; and +when the cars moved on again, we felt as though we had known each other +for the last ten years. + +I cannot think of a day's travel I have ever enjoyed better than the +ride from New Orleans to Brashear. The dry, dusty roads and withered +vegetation I had left behind me in California, made the trees and green +undergrowth look so much more pleasant to me. The ugly swamp was hidden +by the bright, often poisonous, flowers it produces; and though the +dilapidated houses and ragged people we saw were not a cheerful relief +to the landscape, it was not so gloomy as it would have been under a +lowering sky or on a barren plain. + +A steamer of the Morgan line, comfortable and pleasant as ever a steamer +can be, carried us to Galveston--a place I had pictured to myself as +much larger and grander. But the hotel--though my room did happen to +look out on the county jail--was well kept; and some of the streets +looked like gardens, from the oleander-trees lining them on either side. +The trees were in full blossom, and they gave a very pleasant appearance +to the houses, in front of which they stood. Some few of these houses +looked like a piece of fairyland: nothing could have been built in +better taste, nothing could be kept in more perfect order. Too many of +them, however, showed the signs of decay and ruin, that speak to us with +the mute pathos of nerveless despair from almost every object in the +South. We planned a ride on the beach for the next day, which we all +enjoyed, in spite of the somewhat fresh breeze that sprung up. The bride +was anxious to gather up and carry home a lot of "relics"--a wish the +bridegroom endeavored to gratify by hunting up on the strand a dead +crab, a piece of ship-timber, and the wreck of a fisherman's net. +Discovering that the driver was a German, I held converse with him in +his native tongue, which had the pleasing effect of his bringing to +light, from under the sand, a lot of pretty shells, which the delighted +little bride carried home with her. + +The following day we started for Houston. Eight o'clock had been +mentioned as the starting hour of the train for that locality, but the +landlord seemed to think we were hurrying unnecessarily when we entered +the carriage at half-past seven. There was no waiting-room at the +starting-point that I could see, and we entered the cars, which stood in +a very quiet part of the town (not that there was the least noise or +bustle in any part of it), and seemed to serve as sitting and +dining-rooms for passengers, who seemed to act generally as if they +expected to stay there for the day. But we left Galveston somewhere +toward noon, and since we were all good-natured people, and had become +pretty well accustomed to the speed of the Southern railroads, we +really, in a measure, enjoyed the trip. The people in the cars--many of +the women with calico sun-bonnets on their heads, and the men in coarse +butternut cloth--reminded me of the Texan emigrants one meets with in +New Mexico and Arizona, where they drag their "weary length" along +through the sandy plains with the same stolid patience the passengers +exhibited here, listlessly counting the heads of cattle that our train +picked up at the different stations on the road. The wide, green plains +looked pleasant enough, but I wanted to stop at the little badly-built +houses, and earnestly advise the inhabitants to plant trees on their +homesteads, as the best means of imparting to them the air of "home," +which they were all so sadly lacking. The cattle roaming through the +country looked gaunt and comfortless--like the people and their +habitations. + +Night crept on apace; and though I have forgotten (if I ever knew) what +the cause of delay happened to be, I know that we did not reach Houston +till some five or six hours later than the train was due. I was +agreeably surprised to find vehicles at the depot, waiting to carry +passengers to the different hotels. Our hotel-carriage was an old +omnibus, with every pane of glass broken out; and the opposition hotel +was represented by a calash, with the top torn off and the dashboard +left out. Still more agreeable was the surprise I met with in the hotel +itself--a large, handsome, well-furnished house, giving evidence in +every department of what it had been in former days. Before the war, the +step of the legislator had resounded in the lofty corridor, and the +planter and statesman had met in the wide halls, bringing with them +life, and wealth, and social enjoyment to the proud little city. Now, +alas! the corridors were cheerless in their desolation, and the grand +parlors looked down coldly on the few people gathered there. The +proprietor had years ago lived in California; and of this he seemed +unreasonably proud, as something that everybody could not accomplish. +His wife was a Southern woman, and had not yet learned to look with +equanimity upon the undeniable fact that her husband was keeping a +hotel. I am sure that she had no reason to deplore the loss of her +husband's wealth and slaves on that account; for both she and her +husband were people who would have been respected in any part of the +world, even if they had _not_ kept hotel. + +In the midst of a hot, sultry day, a fierce norther sprang up, chilling +us to the bone, and causing us to change our original intention of +remaining here for some time. The bride, too, and her husband, were +willing to return to a more civilized country at an early day. Together +we went back, and were greeted at the hotel we had stopped in, and by +people on the steamer, as pleasantly as though we were in the habit of +passing that way at least once a month. At New Orleans we parted, the +new husband and wife returning to St. Louis, while I retraced my steps +to Louisville, _en route_ to New York. + +In the cars I was soon attracted by the appearance of a lady and +gentleman--evidently brother and sister--accompanied by an elderly negro +woman. The gentleman seemed in great distress of mind, and the lady was +trying to speak comfort to his troubled spirits. The negro woman would +gaze longingly out of the window, shading her eyes with her hand, and +then stealthily draw her apron over her cheeks, as though the heat +annoyed her. But I knew she was crying, and the sobs she tried to +repress would sometimes almost choke the honest old negro. The train +went so slow--so slow; and the gentleman paced nervously up and down, +whenever the cars stopped on the way. + +Great sorrow, like great joy, always seeks for sympathy; and in a short +time I knew the agony of the father, who was counting every second that +must pass before he could reach the bedside of his dying child. A +young, strong maiden, she had been sent by the widowed father to a +convent, in the neighborhood of Louisville, there to receive the +excellent training of the sisters of the school. Stricken down suddenly +with some disease, they had immediately informed the father by +telegraph; and he, with his sister, and Phrony, the old nurse of the +girl, had taken the next train that left New Orleans. Both he and his +father had been prominent secessionists, had been wellnigh ruined by the +war, and had hoarded what little they could save from the common wreck, +only for this daughter--and now she was dying. So slowly moved the +train! Hour after hour the brother paced up and down the narrow space in +the cars, while the sister poured into my ears the tale of his hopes and +fears, their wretchedness and their perseverance during the war, and +how, in all they had done and left undone, the best interests of Eugenia +had been consulted and considered. The negro woman had crouched down at +our feet, and was swaying back and forth with the slow motion of the +cars, giving vent to her long pent up grief, and sobbing in bitterness +of heart: "Oh, Miss Anne! Miss Anne! why didn't you let me go with my +chile?" + +To make full the cup of misery, we were informed next morning that our +train would stop just where it was till six o'clock in the evening, when +some other train would come along and carry us on. I don't think that +the colonel (the father) did any swearing, but I fear that some of the +Californians who were of our party did more than their share. Going to +the nearest station, he telegraphed the cause of his delay to the +sisters of the convent, and then waited through the intolerably long +day. At nightfall the train moved on, slowly, slowly, creeping into +Louisville at last, in the dull, cold, dismal day. Snow-flakes were +falling in the gray atmosphere, settling for a moment on the ragged, +shivering trees, ere they fluttered, half dissolved, to the muddy +ground. The wind rose in angry gusts now and again, whirling about the +flakes, and trying to rend the murky clouds asunder, as though jealous +of the drizzling fog that attempted to take possession of the earth. + +Breathlessly the colonel inquired for dispatches at the hotel. Yes; his +child still lived! A buggy was ready, awaiting them at the door, and the +brother and sister drove off, leaving Phrony to take possession of their +rooms. I can never forget the heart-broken look of Phrony when the buggy +vanished from sight. + +"You see," said I, "there was no room in the buggy for you. If they had +waited to engage a carriage, they might have been too late." + +"Yes, Miss," said Phrony, absently, and turned away. + +Toward the close of the day, when already hooded and cloaked for the +onward journey, I was informed that Eugenia was dead: her father had +received but her parting breath. The dispatch was sent for the +information of those who had shown such sympathy for the grief-stricken +father. I stepped over to the colonel's rooms, where I knew Phrony was. +She was sitting on a little trunk by the fire, with her apron over her +head, and her body bent forward. + +"Then you know it, Phrony?" I asked. + +"Yes, yes; knowed it all along, Miss. Hadn't never no one to take care +of her but her old mammy! Oh, my chile! my chile! my little chile! And +she's done gone died, without her mammy! Oh, my chile! my chile!" + +I tried to speak kindly to her, but my sobs choked me. I looked out of +the window, but there was no light there. The snow was falling to the +ground in dogged, sullen silence, and the wind, as though tired out with +long, useless resistance, only moaned fitfully at times, when clamoring +vainly for admission at the closed windows. + +Was it not well with the soul just gone to rest? Was it not better with +her than with us--with me--who must still wander forth again, out into +the snow, and the cold, and the night? + +"Oh, my chile! my chile!" sobbed the woman, so black of face, but true +of heart; "if I could only have died, and gone to heaven, and left you +with Massa Harry! Oh, Miss Anne! Miss Anne! what made you take my chile +away from me?" + +"It is only for a little while that you will be parted from her, +Phrony," I said. + +"Bress de Lord! Yes, I'll soon be with my little chile again. But she's +dead now, and I can't never see her no more. Oh, my chile! my chile!" + +I closed the door softly, for I heard the warning cry of the coachman +who was to take us to the outgoing train. + + + + +_MY FIRST EXPERIENCE IN NEW MEXICO._ + + +On a warm, pleasant afternoon in the latter part of August, 1866, our +command reached the post to which it had been assigned--Fort Bayard, New +Mexico. Our ambulance was driven to the top of a little hill, where I +had leisure to admire the singular beauty of the surrounding country, +while my husband was superintending the pitching of the tent. + +The command to which we belonged was the first body of Regulars that had +been sent across the Plains since the close of the war. Fort Bayard had +been garrisoned by a company of colored troops, who were now under +marching orders, and our soldiers were to build the fort, which, as yet, +existed only in the general's active brain. The Pinos Altos gold mines +were only twelve miles distant from here, and all the other +mines--copper and gold--lying within a range of fifteen miles, had been +prosperously and profitably worked, by Mexicans and Americans; but after +the breaking out of the war, when the troops had been withdrawn from the +Territory, bands of roving, hostile Indians had visited one mine after +another, leaving in their wake mutilated corpses and blackened ruins. +The news of the soldiery coming to this rich mining country was drawing +miners and adventurers from far and near, and Pinos Altos promised to +become a mining district once more. + +Looking around me, I saw a number of officers approaching from where the +One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Infantry was camped. They came to welcome +us to the camp, and I should have liked to receive them "in style;" but +all I could do was to smooth my hair with my hand. The tent was not yet +pitched, and I certainly should not leave the ambulance, for I had +observed hosts of centipedes crawling out from under the rocks that had +been removed to make room for the tent-poles. The officers grouped +themselves around the ambulance, and after congratulating us on our safe +arrival, wondered how I had ever found courage to come to this place. +"Did it not seem an age since I had parted with the last lady, at Fort +Selden?" and "How would I like living here--the only lady in this +wilderness--without quarters, without comforts of any kind?" + +"Oh, I shall do nicely," I said. "I have not slept under a roof since +leaving Fort Leavenworth, five months ago, and all the comforts we are +in want of are commissaries; which of you, gentlemen, is quarter-master, +by the way? I should like to send to the commissary to-day, though it is +after issuing hours." + +"Yes, certainly," said the quarter-master; "but our supply is limited +just now. What do you wish for?" + +"Sugar, coffee, tea," I enumerated; "canned fruit, rice--" + +"Stop! stop!" hurriedly exclaimed the quarter-master; "all in the world +we have in the commissary is soap, salt, and beans. We have taken our +coffee without sugar since the Apaches captured the last train, and we +rather hoped to get commissaries from your train." + +Accustomed as I had become to live on "hard tack" and bacon +occasionally, when it was dangerous to light fires, on account of +"drawing" the Indians, this piece of information did not dampen my +spirits in the least; but at night, while the cook was preparing our +supper of coffee, bacon, and soda-biscuits, the orderly sergeant of the +company made his appearance at the entrance of our tent, and, after the +usual military salute, presented a large tin-pan filled with sugar, and +a bag with coffee. "The men," he said, "had requested that their +rations of coffee and sugar be delivered to the lieutenant's wife, till +the next train should bring fresh supplies." The men had styled me "the +mother of the company;" and this was only one of the many proofs of +good-will and devotion I was constantly receiving, in return for some +little trifling kindnesses I had shown one or the other, while crossing +the plains and deserts of Kansas and New Mexico. A little piece of +linen, to tie up a bruised finger; a cup of vinegar, a lump of white +sugar, to change the taste of the wretched drinking-water, to some poor +invalid, were held in sacred remembrance by these men; and some of them +had risked their lives, in turn, to procure for me a drink of fresh +water, when sick and faint, crossing Jornada del Muerto, that terrible +Journey of Death. + +Our tent looked cozy enough, when finished and furnished. A piece of +brilliant red carpeting was spread on the ground; the bedding was laid +on planks, resting on trestles; the coverlet was a red blanket; the +camp-chairs were covered with bright cloth, and the supper--served on +the lid of the mess-chest--looked clean and inviting. The kitchen, just +back of the tent, was rather a primitive institution: a hole dug into +the ground, two feet long, a foot wide, with two flat, iron bars laid +over it, was all there was to be seen. Two or three mess-pans, a spider, +and a Dutch-oven constituted our kitchen furniture; and with these +limited means, an old soldier will accomplish wonders in the way of +cooking. Before enlisting, one of our servants had been a baker; the +other, a waiter at a hotel; and, between them, they managed the task of +waiting on us very creditably. To be sure, my husband's rank entitled +him to but one servant from the company; but then I was the only lady +with the command, and our company commander was considerate of my +comfort. + +Reveille always comes early; but that first morning in Fort Bayard it +came _very_ early. The knowledge that we had reached "our haven of +rest," after a five months' journey, made me want to sleep. I wished to +feel sure that our tent was not to be struck directly after +breakfast--that the bed would not be rolled up and tumbled into the +army-wagon--that I should not have to creep into the ambulance, and +ride, ride, ride, all that day again. But we had agreed to visit the +great Santa Rita copper mines that day, in company with all the +officers; and Charley was rapping at the tent, to say that breakfast was +almost ready. We started directly after guard-mount: five officers, six +men--who had been detailed as escort--and myself. We were all well +mounted. My own horse, Toby--the swiftest and strongest of them all--was +snow-white, with delicate, slender limbs, and tall, even for a cavalry +horse. The camp was located in a valley, some four miles square; gently +rising hills inclosed it on every side; beyond these, on one side, rose +the San José Mountains, and, in an almost opposite direction, the Pinos +Altos Range. All these hills and mountains were said to contain metal; +copper and gold, and even cinnabar, could be found. And we were now +making our way to the foot-hills, where the officers had promised to +show us some rich leads they had discovered. We dismounted when we had +reached the place; and some of the escort acting as guard against Indian +"surprises," the rest were set to work, with picks and hatchets, to dig +up specimens. They had not long to dig, for every rock they struck +contained copper; and frequently the little specks of gold in it could +be seen with the naked eye. + +But it must not be supposed that these hills were barren, or destitute +of verdure. On the contrary, as far as the eye could reach, even the +highest mountains were covered with grass, scrub-oaks, and cedars; while +in the valley, and on the hills, there was one bright carpet of grass +and wild flowers. The white tents in the valley, with the flag-staff in +the centre, and the flag just moving in the morning breeze, the +dark-green trees shading the tents, the stream of water (called by the +captain Minne-ha-ha) running around the camp--all this looked so +refreshing, so beautiful, after those long day's marches among the +sand-hills of the Rio Grande, and the weary tramps over the burning +deserts we had lately left behind us, that my enthusiasm rose to the +highest pitch. + +"Why don't somebody claim this delightful country?--why don't people in +the army resign, and own mines, and settle down here to live?" I +asked--very irrationally, I am afraid. + +"My dear madam," said the captain, leading me to the edge of the hill, +and pointing downward, where, amid the long, waving grass and bright, +laughing flowers, I discovered the charred logs of what had once been a +miner's cabin, "neither the beauty of the country, nor the wealth of its +minerals, has been overlooked; and hundreds of men have lost their +lives, in trying to wrest from the Indian's grasp what would be a +benefit and blessing to civilization." + +I wanted to go near enough to touch with my hand two graves that were +close by the burnt logs, but the captain refused to let me go. It was +about fifty yards from where the guard was placed; and that, he said, +was almost certain death. He promised, that as soon as the Mexican guide +should return from Fort Craig, he would place him, with a sufficiently +large escort, at my command, to visit the whole of the surrounding +country. The guide--old Cecilio--had lived in this country before it had +come into Uncle Sam's possession; had had many a narrow escape from the +Indians, and knew the history of every mine and shaft in all that +region. Pointing to the San José Mountain Range, the captain said there +was a wagon-road leading along its foot to the Santa Rita mines, but +that he knew of an Indian trail, which would take us there much quicker. +Remounting, we resumed our journey. + +New beauty surprised us every little while: sometimes it was a little +silver rivulet, running over the most beautiful ferns; then a group of +trees and red-berried shrubs; and again, a clump of rare flowers. But +one thing weighed down the spirit like lead, in these wild regions: it +was the death-like, uninterrupted silence that reigned over all. There +was nothing of life to be seen or heard--no bird, no butterfly. The +lizard slipped noiselessly over the rocks at your feet, and the +tarantula gaped at you with wide-open eyes, before retreating to the +shelter of her nest in the ground. But even the carrion-crow, following +wherever human beings lead the way, never left the limits of the camp. + +We had now reached a deep ravine. A shallow creek was running at our +feet; dark, frowning mountains seemed to hem us in on every side; our +horses looked tired, and the captain very unexpectedly announced that he +had lost his way! He said he felt sure that this creek was to be crossed +_somewhere_, but not here where our horses were drinking now. Old +Cecilio had always accompanied him before this, and--and--in short, we +were lost! Just then one of the men rode up to the lieutenant's side, +and said something to him in a low tone. "Where?" asked he. The man +pointed down the creek. The officers dismounted to examine the ground, +and found the fresh tracks of eight or nine Apache Indians. To be sure, +there were eleven men and officers on our side; but our horses were +pretty well worn, and the camp twenty miles away, for aught we knew. The +men looked to their fire-arms, while the officers consulted. If we were +attacked here, the Indians, even if they could not take us, could starve +us out before any party sent out from the fort could find us. Therefore, +to proceed was our only chance. Perhaps, if we could succeed in reaching +the top of the next mountain, we might discover some landmark showing us +our way back to camp. Some one proposed to search again for the trail +to the copper-mine; but the captain told us it was one of the favorite +haunts of the Indians when in this part of the country, and this party +had probably gone there now. At last we moved on, the escort so disposed +that I was covered on every side. The mountain was steep, and covered +with sharp rocks, cactus, and _chaparral_, which appeared to me moving +and peopled with hideous forms. Every moment I expected to hear a savage +yell, and see a shower of arrows flying around our devoted heads. Many a +time a finger was raised and pointed silently, so as not to frighten me, +to some suspicious-looking object; but all remained quiet, and we +reached the summit at last, only to see that we were surrounded by +mountains still higher and steeper than the one we had climbed. Giving +our horses but short breathing-time, we made the next ascent, hoping +then to see our way clear; but again we were disappointed. Never before, +perhaps, had the foot of the white man left its impress on these +solitary heights. There was untold wealth hidden under these sharp +rocks, and in the crevices and clefts that looked so dark and +treacherous in the afternoon sun; but even the mines of Golconda would +have had but little interest for us just then. + +We had now come to a mountain that we must descend some five hundred +feet before we could make the ascent of the next. With trembling legs, +the horses began the steep descent; the first horse stumbled and fell, +and then the men were ordered to dismount and lead their horses. I +wanted to do the same, but was told to remain in the saddle, as I could +not mount quick enough, should the Indians attack us. When the horses +found foothold at last, it was almost impossible to urge them on; so +some of the men volunteered to reconnoitre in different directions, +while the officers remained with me. At last, one of the men, having +reached the summit, telegraphed to us that he had discovered some +friendly post, and made signs how we were to travel round the mountain. +Sundown saw us in camp again, worn out and hungry, but by no means +daunted or discouraged. Santa Rita was to be abandoned until the old +guide returned; but Pinos Altos was to be visited without him, in a day +or two. + +Poor Toby was tired and jaded after this exploit, so he was allowed to +roam through camp, at his "own sweet will," without lariat or +picket-rope; he could always pick out our tent from the rest, and he +came to look into it, one morning, just as the cook had laid a +freshly-baked loaf of bread on the mess-chest to cool. I had been in the +habit of giving Toby a bite of our lunch whenever the command halted, +and I could reach the lunch-basket; he was satisfied with anything I +gave him--a bit of bacon, a piece of "hard-tack," a lump of sugar--and +thinking now, I suppose, that he was being neglected, when I did not +look up from my sewing, he quietly withdrew. The next moment I heard the +men outside shouting, "Thief! you thief!" Stepping to the entrance of +the tent, I saw Toby, the loaf of bread firmly between his teeth, making +his way, at a two-forty gait, across the parade-ground. This made our +bill of fare rather meagre for that day--"slap-jacks" taking the place +of the bread. But, then, we would soon have eggs, the cook said; and he +could do so many things with eggs. Now, these eggs were some that we +expected certain chickens, then _en route_ from Fort Cummings, to lay +for us. An officer there had had some chickens brought up from El Paso, +at great expense and greater trouble; of these, he had promised us three +dozen, and they were now coming to Fort Bayard under escort of ten +cavalrymen. I had made Charley promise, on honor, never to ask to kill +one of these for the table, but to content himself with using the eggs +they would, should, and ought to lay. Toward evening the escort with the +wagon came in sight; all the men rushed down the road to meet it; and +when the box containing the chickens was opened and the flock let loose, +the whole company gave three cheers, and, for days afterward, the men +could be heard, all over camp, crowing like roosters. They never seemed +to get tired of feeding the chickens extra handfuls of corn, religiously +bringing to our kitchen any stray egg a gadding hen had laid in the +company hay. + +The morning was cool and bright, when Copp and Toby, capering and +dancing, as though we had never been lost in the mountains, were led up +to the tent. The escort was already mounted, and every man of the twelve +looked upon this as a holiday. They all had their curiosity to see Pinos +Altos; but the clean gauntlets and white shirts had been donned in honor +of this--to them--great event: escorting the first white lady, an +officer's wife, into Pinos Altos. I can never tire of speaking of the +magnificent scenery in this part of New Mexico. It was not New +Mexico--it was a small piece of the Garden of Eden, thrown in by +Providence, from above, in sheer pity for the Americans, when Uncle Sam +made that Ten Million Purchase, known as the Gadsden. We galloped along +a smooth road, made by the men for hauling fire-wood over, for a mile or +two, till we crossed the Minne-ha-ha, and shortly after struck the Pinos +Altos road. It had been a well travelled road at one time, though the +Indian only had crossed it, in his wanderings, these three or four years +past. Scrub-oak, and shrubs for which I knew no name, by the wayside; +the aloe plant and cactus, _grama_ grass and wild flowers, peeping out +from under fragments of moss-covered rock; here and there a cedar, or +pine, made the impression that we were inspecting extensive +pleasure-grounds; the little stream--Whiskey Creek--that found its +winding way down from Pinos Altos, was bordered by willows, and, though +shallow, afforded us all a cool drink. The road rises almost from the +time of leaving the fort, but so gently at first as to be hardly +noticed. Part of the escort rode before us, for those romantic-looking +hills, springing up here and there on our way, had many a time served +as ambush for the savage hordes that infest all this country; and more +than one grave by the road-side spoke of sudden attack, of sharp +contest, and final defeat. + +An officer alone would have thought it unnecessary to take so large an +escort as ours, but the commanding officer had stipulated that the +lieutenant must not undertake these rides with me unless he took twelve +men. The Indians would risk any number of their braves, he said, to get +an officer's wife into their possession; and then he would have to turn +out his whole command to rescue me. So, to save him this trouble, we +promised to obey orders. + +There was one curious hill, that I never passed without counting from +six to twelve rattlesnakes wriggling up the side of it. This rattlesnake +hill was about half-way between camp and Pinos Altos; and a mile or two +beyond, I saw the first tall pines, from which this region takes its +name. They were giants, in fact; it made me dizzy to look up to the +tallest point I could see, as the tree swayed gently to and fro against +the deep-blue sky. + +Our horses were walking now; the hills grew into mountains, and came +closer around us; the road was hardly a road any more--I doubt that +anything but Indian ponies or pack-trains had ever gone over it, till +the "boys in blue" came here--and the inconsiderate thorns caught and +tore my "best" riding-habit at every step. We could now see the red +earth the miners in this section liked so well to find; they had been +prospecting all along Whiskey Creek, but had gone higher and higher, +till settling in Pinos Altos proper, at last. Up, up, we went, till I +thought we must be nearing the clouds. The air felt sharp and cool, even +in the midday sun, but we had not yet reached the summit. + +At last the advance-guard halted, and one of the men, turning, uttered +an exclamation of wonder and surprise. The Pinos Altos people had cut +down the tall pines as much as possible on this side, because the +Indians had always approached under cover of them when they had made +their attacks on the place; and now, without hindrance or obstruction, +we had a view, such as I have never enjoyed since. All the mountains I +had thought so immensely high lay at our feet, and away beyond them I +could see far into the country--for hundreds of miles, it seemed to me. +To the right of us, we could peer into Old Mexico; the Three +Brothers--three peaks very similar in appearance and close +together--were pointed out to me; and over that way was Janos, they +said--the first town after crossing the border--the place our deserters +and fugitives from justice always tried to reach. Five minutes' ride now +brought us in sight of Pinos Altos--a few straggling shanties, built of +logs, brush, or _adobe_, just as it happened to suit the builder. Beyond +Pinos Altos the world seemed literally shut in, or shut out, by +mountains; there was snow on the highest peaks nine months of the year; +no one had felt inclined to explore them as yet--indeed, it was all +people could do to draw their breath comfortably here, I thought. The +streets in this city had not yet been thoroughly regulated, as some of +the inhabitants had found it convenient to commence mining operations +in, or immediately outside, their houses; and, following a good lead +they had struck, had sometimes continued these operations till some +other miner, with six-shooter in hand, had declared no man had a right +to dig "round his shanty." Some other miner had coaxed the waters of +Whiskey Creek on to his "claim," situated on the other side of town, +having dug for this purpose a ditch some five or six feet deep. Still +another had sunk a shaft twenty feet deep, at his front door, so as to +"hold that mine" for two years. But mining was not confined to the +streets of the city, by any means; companies of five, six, or twenty men +had ventured out as far as their number would permit. It would not have +been a very safe occupation at the best; for even our men, when sent to +cut hay within sight of the fort, had to work with their revolvers +buckled on, and their carbines within reach. How much more, then, did +these men risk, in lonely, out-of-the-way places, where no succor could +reach them--where only the serene sky overhead, and the red demon +inflicting the torture, could hear the last agonized cry that escaped +the blanched lips of his writhing, helpless victim. + +As we approached, the miners laid down their picks, and stared at us. +Here and there a Mexican woman, who had followed the fortunes of her +lord and master into the wilderness, appeared at the door of some +shanty, her head covered with the inevitable _rebozo_; and, taking a +quick survey of our party, would vanish the next moment to communicate +the news of our arrival to her _amigos_ and _compadres_. "Taking" the +ditches, but carefully avoiding the shafts, we came to a house rather +larger and better-appearing than the rest, and were invited by a +mannerly Spaniard to alight and rest in his "house." His wife waited on +us in the pleasantest manner; but the building we had entered consisted +of only one room, which was store, sitting-room, kitchen, and all. The +news of our arrival spread like wild-fire; miners from far and near +hurried to Rodriguez' store; and the place being small, the circle +around us was soon as close as good manners would allow of--and good +manners they all had, Mexicans and Americans. Those who could not find +room inside, were out by the door, patting Toby, examining my +side-saddle, and asking questions of the escort. Señor Rodriguez was in +the habit of weighing the gold the miners found in the course of the +day, and buying it for greenbacks, or exchanging for it such provisions +as he had on hand. A huge, bearded Mexican stepped up to the little +counter now, and emptying his leather bag of its shining contents, +selected the largest piece--the size of a hazel-nut--and presented it +to me, with an air of such genuine honesty, such chivalric grace, that I +felt I could not refuse the gift without wounding the man's feelings. I +could only say, "Thank you," in English; but having accepted this first +offering, I could not refuse to accept from the rest the largest piece +of gold each miner had found that day. The first piece had been the +largest found. + +Taking our departure when the sun was almost hidden behind the +mountains, we could not shake off a nervous feeling as we picked our way +through the labyrinth of rocks, trees, and shrubs, for this was the +favorite hour for Indian attacks. They hardly ever attack a train or +camp after night; their chosen time is just before dark, or early in the +morning, before sunrise; of course, they are not particular as to what +hour of the day they can appropriate your scalp, but they have seldom or +never been known to attack the whites at night. + +We could already see the camp-fires in the distance, when a number of +stealthily moving objects in the road attracted my attention. Toby +snorted as though an Indian were already clutching at the bridle; but a +most discordant yelping, barking, and howling struck my ear just then +like the sweetest of music: a pack of _coyotes_ only had gathered around +us. They followed us all the way to camp, and, surrounding our quarters, +kept up their serenade till broad daylight. A band of equally musical +wild-cats had chosen the infantry camp as the theatre for their +performances; and an occasional roar from one of those long-built, +panther-like animals called California lions taught me that there was +life and animation in Nature here at night, if not in the daytime. + +Old Cecilio having returned during our absence, we started out, the next +morning, after guard-mount, on another exploring expedition. When the +hills, shutting in the valley with the fort, had closed behind us, we +halted for a moment to look down the road by which we had first +approached Fort Bayard. There, before us to the left, lay the San José +Mountain Range, grand and stately, partly covered with cedars, pines, +and firs. Winding along the foot of the range, the eye could follow the +course of the beautiful, silver-clear White Water, bordered by willows, +ash, and poplars. The most fantastic rocks rose abruptly out of the +water, here and there, covered with moss and vines; an aloe plant or +cactus generally adorning the highest point--growing where not a handful +of earth could be seen, from which they might draw life and sustenance. +To the right of us--ah! there was New Mexico, its barren hills, its +monotonous plains, "the trail of the serpent" lying over all; for the +Indians had only lately set fire to the grass, and it had consumed the +scant vegetation. + +An hour's ride brought us in sight of the ruins of the San José copper +mines, on the side of the mountain. It was rather steep climbing to +reach it; but the plateau, on which the works lay, must have been a +quarter of a mile across. Placing sentinels, we inspected the old mill. +Everything was rude and primitive, but huge in dimensions; and the +different _jacals_ that surrounded the _adobe_ building corroborated the +guide's statement that some fifty men had been employed here, "and they +had fought bravely and sold their lives dearly," he said, "the day they +were attacked by the Indians, three or four years ago." + +"A white man," Cecilio continued, "a rebel, had led this band of +Indians, and, adding his knowledge of the habits of the white man to the +cunning of the savages, but few Americans or Mexicans could escape these +fiends. This wretch never erred in the aim he took--a ball through the +neck always sending his victim to his last account--but here, on this +spot, he had found his match. Some American, whose name the guide had +forgotten, had sent a bullet through his traitor's heart, at last; and +the Indians, never resting until the brave man had been laid in the +dust, then left this region, because, possibly, there was nothing more +to destroy." Clearing away the brush and rubbish at our feet, the guide +held up his hand--"And here, _señora_," he said,--pointing to two sunken +graves marked by pieces of smoothed plank,--"here they are buried side +by side: the rebel who led the Indians, and the white man who killed +him." It was nothing uncommon to meet with nameless graves in this +country; but a thrill passed through my heart, as I looked at these two +mounds, where friend and foe slumbered so peacefully, "side by side." + +It was dangerous to tarry long in one spot, the guide reminded us. The +orderly brought Copp and Toby, and we pursued our way through the +laughing, blooming valley. Nuts, grapes, and hops grew wild here; and +peaches, Cecilio said, grew near the Santa Rita mines, but they had been +planted there by the former inhabitants and employés of the mines. The +mines originally belonged to a Spanish lady, to whose ancestors seven +leagues of the country surrounding them had been granted by the Spanish +Government, long before the territory belonged to Uncle Sam. Her +representatives had worked the mines with a force of some two hundred +men, till the Indians had overpowered them, and destroyed the works. The +immense piles of copper-ore, on either side of the road, told us that we +were nearing Santa Rita, at last; and there, just at the point of the +San José Range, lay a large, strongly-built _adobe_ fort. Buildings of +different sizes and kinds lay clustered around this, which appeared to +be furnace and fastness at once. Placing sentinels, we commenced +exploring above ground; under-ground I refused to venture, in my +cowardice. We found works of considerable magnitude; I counted twelve +bellows, in a kind of hall, that must have been sixty feet high, but the +rafters and beams overhead had rotted, and the weight of the mud, with +which all roofs are covered in this country, had borne down the roof, +and half covered an enormous wheel, some forty feet in diameter. +Everything about this wheel that was not wood, was copper; not a vestige +of iron, steel, or stone, was to be seen around here: it was copper, +wood, and _adobe_. But copper was everywhere--copper-ore, so rich that +the veins running through it could be scraped out with a penknife; +copper just smelted; copper beaten into fantastic shapes, as though the +workmen, in their despair, had meant to use these as weapons against the +Indians, when attacked here, years ago. For the same band, with the +white leader, had attacked these works; and Cecilio showed us the dents +the Indian arrows had made in the little wooden door the men had +succeeded in closing, when first attacked. But the families of these men +had lived in the buildings outside the fort; and to rescue wife and +children from death, and worse than death, they had abandoned their +place of safety in the fort, and, with the superintendent leading them, +they had fought the savages bravely, but had been defeated and +slaughtered, at last. Leaving nine men with me, the lieutenant, guide, +and three men descended into the shaft, went some five hundred yards, +and, on their return, reported that everything looked as though deserted +only yesterday. + +Having confidence in old Cecilio, we now took the trail we had missed +the other day, as this would enable us to visit the San José gold mine +on our way back to camp. We could ride only "Indian file," but soon came +to a mountain composed entirely of white flint. Sand and earth, carried +here by the wind, and bearing grass and flowers, could be scraped aside +anywhere, discovering underneath the same semi-transparent rock. Again +we took the narrow trail, which brought us to what appeared to be the +entrance to a cave, in the side of a hill; a wooden cross was fastened +over it, and a road, built entirely by hand, led to the half-consumed +remains of a number of buildings, on the banks of a creek. The guide +and lieutenant entered the mine alone, leaving the men for my +protection, but soon returned, as fallen earth blocked up the passage +near the entrance. + +"But oh, _señora_, the gold taken from this mine was something +wonderful," the guide said, enthusiastically; "and there is still a +whole 'cow-skin' full of it, buried in one of these holes"--pointing to +different shafts we were passing on our way to the burnt cottages. "When +the Indians came here the white men tried to take it with them, but were +so closely pursued that they threw it into one of these places, +intending to come back for it; but all they could do, later, was to bury +their people decently, and the gold is still there--left for some +stranger to find." + +The eyes of the soldiers--gathered around the graves we had dismounted +to see--glittered at the old guide's tale; but the sight of these +lonely, forgotten graves could awaken but one thought in my breast: How +long would it be before another group might bend over our graves and +say, "I wonder who lies buried here!" + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42308 *** |