The Red River Half-Breed

's bow-and-arrows at the least when he should return. All this is common enough in the East. About the year 1850 my mother died, and my father, as much to distract himself in his profound grief as to quench a thirst for fortune which he shared with New Englanders, departed with me, a stripling, around the Cape to California. Our ship was rather better than those rotten tubs which unscrupulous men fitted out as 'superb clippers,' and we outstripped many vessels that had anticipated our start. You must recall something of the sensation due to the startling discovery of gold in the extreme West. Even the fables of old whalers

s. He was used to fishing, trapping, and gunning, and so we set to killing bears-any quantity on the Sierra Nevada 'spurs' then-and fishing in the Sacramento and

which I thought myself happy to escape so easily; and almost made me lose my prize. However, as this wound stung me in pride as well as flesh-for I daresay, gentlemen, you know how a grizzly's claws leave a smart!" (the two hunters nodded animatedly)-"I pressed on, after a circuit, at

w, I concluded my father, who must have got back, had gone to bed, weary of waiting. I pulled up the latch, entered

! The tone sent a shiver all over me t

d come an hour so

n the hearth with a handful of

ne of a firearm, one of a knife; and he was scalped as well. The blood from these neglected wounds painted him

ed to linger till you came. Now, dash away your tears, and listen to me like a man. In

cquaintance-a gambusino, or confirmed gold hunter-a man he liked very well. To have a friendly glass at leisure, they dropped into the nearest public resort, the gamblers' and revellers' hotel, called the 'Polka' salo

my father, as a hunter, was likewise thought to have blundered upon the natural treasuries of the mountains in his pursuit of b'ar. To both, schemes had been pro

to enable the chosen subscriber to go free to San Francisco. He was a little bilious wretch, low and sneering, a sort of lynx and fox in combination. His partners wer

o men well armed. In any case, they let my father and his friend leave the saloon unimpeded. The three scound

had been doubled as a man by his mountain life, and he gave them a serious half hour's diversion; twice he got free, and laid about him with a long knife. At last, one shot and another stabbed him; and, either from rage at having been baffled, or to carry out their assumption of the Indian character, they scalped him. He had the fortitude to pretend to be

eing rather a pertinacious man, till, one day, my Mexican friend, as he had been my father's, warned me that I was in error: these three men were now hunting me, having transferred their enmity from my father to my head: and, in fact, it was a wonder I had not yet fallen a victim in one of their vicious circles where I had penetrated. Being on my guard from this out, our warfare continued long without result. At last, I

e to the Columbia River, and I accepted the mission. However, a little over a week gave Monsieur all he wanted of roughing it in the sierras, and he said he had changed his mind, and wanted to back out. I made no difficulty, of

law's hacienda was devastated, and the farm buildings reduced to ashes; under that

ands, and sobbed rather fiercely than mournfully. His two hearers remained quie

ng burning, tearless eyes. "I would not leave the punishment of their slaughter to the

ey led me by nightfall to a lone ranche, where the roll of the sea came softly, and mingled with the whinnying of two horses picketed by the door, which welcomed mine. I rode him in at that door which I carried off the hinges. Two men were on stools at a dying fire, chuckling and

he sum you gave me for guidance to lure me aside whilst you

this the practical joke yo

whole tale of how he had been hired in an hour of starvation to decoy me away from my home. He had no hand in the extreme consequences, and I let him go with the

ession. His was the scapulary which my father had inextricably grasped in the death 'scrimmage.' If I had regretted my cruelty, the list of his crimes would have steeled me anew. Worse than I suspected remained to tell, for his two accomplices had not only fled with the valuables of my father-in-law, but with the heart treasures of mine, which I had till then believed buried be

that I have recently crossed Indian trails, I have served you. Help me, now,

ed in the sign language as if their thoughts wer

atest heed not to mention names except of the villainous. Those are no clue to m

ather's George W., and my father-in-law's Don Tolo

to my brother George in these features? Still silent? Ridge is only a 'mountain name'; but believe me, and Cherokee Bill will bear me out with gun and knife-there never was a deed of mine done under it which my real name would not proudly cover. It is Heaven that has brought you to my bosom, Sam! Come to my heart, where I had clean given up dreams

like burrs," he continued, in a kind of apologetic tone. "And if this ain't the m

o that the most imaginative could not foresee the incidents, far more surprising than this meeting of kindred, not at all an

, when suddenly the latter felt a touch on the shoulder. Cherokee Bill

om a seraphic choir, for a score of women's voices were singing a hym

n glory, A home forever blest; Still sound the gospel trumpet O'er hill an

a boy in the church! But what are white women doing here? I am staggered. And tuning up like that, too. That's first-class bait for Crows. The

ee

llow light appeared as a lini

to one, and, then, somebody has to kick them on to it. Things are bound to be interesting,

Filditch, in

st watch," observed

he flat ground to which the body accommodates itself, whilst his newfound kinsman, less wise, made a kind of b