Frontier Stories

al counsels of Father Wynn, delivered to some favored guest within, in a tone of voice loud enough for a pulpit. Jack Brace paused. The visitor was the

the wounded man, who occupied an arm-chair by the window, were the only occupants of the room. But in spite of the former's ostentatious greeting, Brace could see that his visit was inopportune and unwelcome. The sheriff nodded a quick, impatient recognition, which, had i

the mouth speaketh.' Job, sir, cursed, we are told, and even expressed himself in vigorous Hebrew regarding his birthday. Ha, ha! I

emers, felt shocked; as the purest of actresses is apt to overdo the rakishness of a gay Lothario, Father Wynn's immaculate conception of an imprecation was

, and Diggers, especially Diggers. There's that blasted Low, ranges the whole Carquinez W

polated Wynn. "Unless," he added, with the artful suggestion of the betrayed t

now why Low hadn't as much right there as if he'd grabbed it under a preemption law and didn't live there." With this hint at certain speculations of Father Wynn in public lands for a homestead, he added that "If they [Brace and Wynn] could bring him along any older American settler than an Indian, they might rake down his [Dunn's] pile." Unprepared for this turn in the conversati

an sneaking Northern Abolitionists, who married their daughters to buck niggers like"-But a spasm of pain w

had given way to a gratuitous passion; Wynn had a vague presentiment that he had said something that imperiled h

a forced smile, pushing away the whiskey wh

g-salts. She ought to be back now," he added, no longer mindful of Brace's presence; "the c

ng," said Brace quietly, "it's in alrea

Crossing," said Wynn cheer

rned Brace, "because I saw it leave, and passed it

n a tone of chagrin which his forced heartiness could not disguise, "Well, boys, it's a disappointment all round; but we must take

o go. With his hand on the lock, he turned to his rival, who, half-hidden

ith the truth about his daughter," said Brace coolly, "you'd

mean?" said

does or does not know where she is, and that in either c

u c

es

where i

arms of the man you were just

ad nothing could be distinguished. Only the

ol. You're too weak, and it ain't a fair fight. Le

t truth, we'll stand as we stood before; and if you're on the shoot, I'm your man when you like, where you like, or on sight if yo

l on the square, thinking I might get a show to talk to her, just as you might have done, you know, if you had my chance. I didn't come across her anywhere. But two men that I met thought they recognized her in a disguise going into the woods. Not susp

t because you were a d--d fool, or had tak

ame afternoon in another dress, saying good-by to the Burnhams, as fresh as a rose and as cold as those sn

ht it. I reckon she hasn't to consult

d out that out of the whole afternoon she spent less than an hour with the Burnhams. I found out that she bought a duster like the disguise the two men saw her in. I found

find out where she vanished, and went there again. Prospecting around, I picked up at the foot of one of the biggest trees this yer old memorandum-book, with grasses and herbs stuck in it. I remembered that I'd heard old Wynn say that Low, like the d

t's that got to do wi

and calculated he'd go back for more. He did. He scooted up that tree and slipped in under some hanging

r there-and how do you

s. An hour after the coach arrived at Indian Spring, she came there in a brown duster and was joined by him. I'd have follo

't you armed? Why didn'

furi

through me at double the distance. I shouldn't have been any better off, nor you either. If I'd killed him, it would have been your duty as sheriff t

God! to kill him before her. I'll risk it, if you daren't. Le

the wood. But you must come as if to arrest him for some offense-say, as an escaped Digger from the Reservation, a dangerous tramp, a destroyer of public property in the forests, a suspected road agent, or anything to give you the right to hunt him. The exposure of him and Nellie, don't you see, must be accidental. I

window, and looke

said, after a pause, "it can't be helped. He'll hear i

to me, not to the law! I'll take my risk of killing him, on sight and on the square. I don't reckon to handic

uously, "yell out for him and Nellie, and let him line yo

saying just now about a bearskin he sol

ce, "with a single hole right over the

'm not thinking of that. How long

weeks, I re

h you there, but not as the sheriff. I'm going there as Jim Dunn, and you

efore you get there; but I've said I'd stand by yo

t into the dar

tly, as Brace, who was supporting him by the a

ou not see him? Was it the ol

ackers chock-full of whiskey, and trying to hold up t

ace forward, until they reached the latter's lodgings. To hi

y way?" said Dunn, with a se

ce, evasively, patting the impatient Buckskin;

entered the house. They had scarcely raised the glasses to their lips when a sudden r

e street. Dunn followed with difficulty; when he reached the door he was confronted by his breathless companion. "She's gone off on a

ion. "Who's got another ho

Street; but we won't get i

" asked Dun

nd his deputy, pursuing a confedera