Frontier Stories

otting out horizon and sky, dropped a thick veil on the highroad and the silent streets of Indian Spring. As t

one

y plunging of their own horse-hoofs they could hear the quic

n, in a savage whisper. "Bear to

le swayed from side to side at each spring of the elastic shafts. Steadying himself by one hand on the low rail, Dunn drew h

de in the blackness ahead. Dunn deliberately raised his weapon. "Sing out!" he repeated impat

Buckskin," he wh

you s

companion's hand and pressed it silently. Even in that supreme moment this horseman's tri

In half a minute they were leading him a length; and when their horse again settled down to his steady work, the stranger was already lost in the circli

any way," whispere

of his," suggested Brace un

r he is. Look here; all you've got to do is to put me in the trail to that cabin. Stand back of me, out of gun-shot, alone, if you like, as my deput

n't shoot hi

ve had a wor

ut

aid the sheriff g

ing of the gloomy horizon line, and a certain impenetrability in the darkness ahead showed them they were nearing the Carquinez Woods. But they were surprised on entering them to fin

me that's going on over on the Divide yonder," said Brace, securing his horse and glancing at the

cing slowly and with difficulty, the desperate man might have been taken for a peaceful invalid returning from an early morning strol

recent careful study. Suddenly he paused. "I made a blaze hereabouts to show where to leave the

Dunn, "if that's what you are lo

direction signified by his companion. Pre

at blaze which was done to muddle you was cut with an axe; this which I made w

ssive; drops of perspiration rolled from the forehead of the sheriff, and at times, when he attempted to st

you see that biggest tree, with the root stret

errupted Dunn quickly, with a sudden revelation that this was the

sponded Brace,

the other side, opposit

u

it?" said Bra

Dunn, grimly. "That'

and with a strong, firm step walked directly to the tree.

o!" he

he distance, after an ineffectual attempt to distinguish his companion through t

!" continued Dunn, in a

efore I dra

id a voice as clear and as high as his own. The hanging strips of

back. "Teresa!

extravagant, and outrageous than before,-Teresa, staring with tooth and eye, sunburnt and e

weeks only! Houp là! Tshk!" and, catching her yellow skirt with her fingers, she pirouetted before the astound

oman! Is that

t

upies it

d

who e

t affectation of modesty, "nobody else but us, I

isn't a young girl, his-his swe

it ain't my style to put up with that sort of thing; at least, it wa

d--d fool, or worse, the fool of a fool. T

r eyes as if in m

ad any feeling of your own abo

me, yo

e

with you here-y

ha

nst a tree. He would have fallen, but with a quick instinct Teresa sprang to his s

'd let me drop then you'd have stretched out the biggest fool in the Sierras." He paused

e again, and qui

When I came here I thought that last thing could never be. I came here expecting to find her here with Low, and kill him-perhaps kill her too. I never even thought of you; not

l just take me, of course, to save your

faintly. "Help me up." She mech

e added, "and don't move bey

were nearly buried in his palms, and strode with a firm, steady step in t

for Nellie he does not know, nor shall ever know, nor shall any living being know, other than myself. And when I leave the wood to-day I shall know i

me away? Ah, y

, you lifted me out of hell just now; and because of the wrong I

d the woman-"for her

t me in hell, for all the love you bear me. And maybe you've gru

she said, turnin

wouldn't, then. Only tell that fellow to take you out of t

h fury upon him, she broke out, "Run! Run from you! Ha, ha! You said just now I'd a grudge against you. Well, list

y-a cloud passed over his face. "Look here, Teresa," he said, with an assumption of carelessness that was as transparent as i

ot a ring for me from that trader Isaacs. It was wo

Dunn, with an almos

nother profit; but that's like those traders." The disingenuous candor of Teresa's manner was in exqu

by!" h

sudden gentleness that surprised him;

said, thinking of the possible conseq

" she replied; "but on

finally; "let us go at once. It's suffocating here, a

inning to grow pale with the advancing day, but still holding a strange quiver of heat in the air. When she had

moment for me?"

s, Teresa! It isn

uarely in the eye

" he sai

lad in her old faded black dress. Her face was very pale, and her eyes were swollen, but she placed his h

id Dunn, looking down upon her. "You've changed in some way. What is it? Is i

en. But," she added, with a sudden spasm of her old rage, "it's a lie; he's not an Indian, no more than I am. Not unless being born of a mother who sca

surprise not unmixed

ould but love me like t

at his name. It ain't Low. It's L'Eau

any stranger, white or red, who may camp with them. Why, even his own father, a whi

me did y

an Indian, too? Eh? What's the matter? We're walking too

a moment, his limbs failed, and stooping gently she wa

intly, with a forced laugh, after he had taken a draught at the strong spirit. "Tell me more abou

urson, who wrote to me about him,"

s incongruity of correspondence wit

to his father. It's full of old accounts of some trading post on the frontier. I

rried whisper. "No, there!-bring out a book. There, I haven't looked at it yet. I

in surprise. "Wher

uick. Open it, for my sight is fa

, with a strange anxiety creepin

er. Listen! I came near killing that chap Lo

but his head fell b