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? . ? v? 1 ? lewis m. grist, proprietor. j fnkptttknt Jfantil]) ftctospaprr i Jot fjjt promotion of fjjc political, $otiaI, ^jritnlfunil anil Commtrrial Jnftrtsfs of % Soufl). {terms*-$2.50 a year, in advance. VOL. 33. YOEKYILLE, S. P.. "WEDNESDAY, FEERUARY 2, 1887. NO. 5. 3 Snial Jtotj. SHOW BOUND AT EAGLE'S BY BRET HARTE. [Copyrighted by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., and published by arrangement with them.] CHAPTER L For some moments profound silence and darkness had accompanied a Sierran stage coach toward the summit. The huge, dim bulk of the vehicle, swaying noiselessly on its straps, glided onward and upward as if obeyI ing some mysterious impulse from behind, so ' faint and indefinite appeared its relations to the viewless and silent horses ahead. The shadowy trunks of tall trees, that seemed to approach the coach windows, look in, and then more hurriedly away, were the only distinguishable objects. Yet even these were bo vague and unieal that they might have been the mere phantoms of some dream of the half-sleeping passengers; for the thicklystrewn needles of the pine, that choked the way and deadened all sound, yielded under the silontly crushing wheels a faint soporific odor that seemed to benumb their senses, already slipping back into unconsciousness during the long ascent Suddenly the stage stopped. Three of the four passengers inside struggled at once into upright wakefulness. The faUrth passenger, John Hale, had not been and turned impatiently toward the window. It seemed to him that two of the Dong trees had suddenly become motionleeswtside. One of them moved again, and the door opened quickly but quietly, as of itself. "Git down," said a voice in the darkness. uGit down," said a voice in the darkness. All the passengers except Hale started. The man next to him moved his right hand suddenly behind him, but as quickly stopped. One of the motionless trees had apparently closed upon the vehicle, and what had seemed to be a bough projecting from it at right angles changed slowly into the faintly shining double barrels oT a gun at the window. "Drop that!" said the voice. ?non wVtn Viorl mmra/1 llffpn'Oil n sflftpfc laugh and returned his hand empty to his knees. The two others perceptibly shrugged their shoulders as over a game that was lost. The remaining passenger, John Hale, fearless by nature, inexperienced by habit, awaking suddenly to the truth, conceived a desperate resistance. But without his making a gesture this was instinctively felt by the others; the muzzle of the gun turned spontaneously on him, and he was vaguely conscious of a certain contempt and impatience of him in his companions. "Git down," repeated the voice imperatively. The three passengers descended. Hale, furious, alert, but helpless of any opportunity, followed. He was surprised to liud the stage driver and express messenger standing beside him; he had not heard thein dismount. He instinctively looked toward the horses. He could 6ee uothing. "Hold up your hands!" One of the passengers had already lifted ' his, in a weary, perfunctory way. The others did the same reluctantly and awkwardly, but apparently more from the consciousness of the ludicrousness of their attitude than from any sense of danger. The rays of a bull's eye lantern, deftly managed by invisible hands, while it left the intruders in shadow, completely illuminated the faces and figures of the passengers. In spite of the majestic obscurity and silence of surrounding nature, the group of humanity thus il luminatert was more iarcicax wan untmauc. A scrap of newspaper, part of a sandwich, and an orange peel that had fallen from the floor of the coach, brought into equal prominence by the searching light, completed the absurdity. "There is a man here with a package of greenbacks," said a voice, with an official coolness that lent a certain suggestion of custom house inspection to the transaction; "who is it?" The passengers looked at each other, and their glance finally settled on Hale. "It's not him," continued the voice, with a slight tinge of contempt on the emphasis. "You'll save time and searching, gentlemen, if you'll tote it out. If we've got to go through every one of you we'll try to make it pay." The significant threat was not unheeded. The passenger who had first moved when the ? stage stopped put his liand to his breast. "T'other pocket first, if you please," said the voice. The man laughed, drew a pistol from his hip pocket, and, under the strong light of the lantern, laid it on a spot in the road indicated by the voice. A thick envelope, taken from his breast pocket, was laid beside it. "I told the d?d fools that gave it to me, instead of sending it by express, it would be at their own risk," ho said apologetically. "As it's going with the express row it's ail the same," said the inevitable humorist of the occasion, pointing to the despoiled express treasure box already in the road. The intention and deliberation of the outrage was plain enough to Hale's inexperience now. Yet he could not understand the cool acquiescence of his fellow passengers, and was furious. His reflections were interrupted hv a voice which seemed to come from a greater distance. He fancied it was even softer in tone, as if a certain austerity was relaxed. "Step in as quick as you like, gentlemen. You've five minutes to wait, Bill." The passengers re-entered the coach; the driver and express messenger hurriedly climbed to their places. Hale would have spoken, but an impatient gesture from his companions stopped him. The}' were evidently listening for something; he listened too. Yet tho silence remained unbroken. It seemed incredible that there should be no indication near or far of that forceful presence which a moment ago had been so dominant. No rustle in the wayside "brush" nor echo from the rocky canyon below betrayed a sound of their flight. A faint breeze stirred the tall tips of the pines, a cone dropped on tho stage roof, one of the in\ isiblc horses, that seemed to be listening too. moved slightly in bis harness. But this only appeared to accentuate the profound stillness. The moments were growing interminable, when the voice, so near as to startlo Hale, broke one more from the surrounding obscurity. "Good night!" It was the signal that they were free. Th driver's whip cracked like a pistol shot, th horses sprang furiously forward, the huge ve hide lurched ahead and then bounded vie lently after them. When Hale could mak his voice heard in the confusion?a confusioi which seemed greater from the colorless in tensity of their last few moments' experienc ?he said hurriedly, "Then that fellow wa there all the time?" "I reckon," returned his companion, "b stopped five minutes to cover the driver wit! his double barrel, until the two other mei got off with the treasure." "The two others!" gasped Hale. "Thei there were only three men, and we six." The man shrugged his shoulders. The pas seneer who had eiven ud the creenback drawled, with a slow, irritating tolerance "I reckon you're a stranger here?" "I am?to this sort of thing, certainly though I live a dozen miles from here, at Ea gle\s Court," returned Hale scornfully. "Then you're the chap that's doin' tha fancy ranchin' over at Eagle's," continue! the man lazily. "Whatever I'm doing at Eagle's Court I'n not ashamed of it," said Hale tartly; "ani that's re than I can say of what I've don ?or haven't done?to-night I've been one o six men overawed and robbed by three." "As to the overawin', ez you call it?met be you know more about it than us. As t the robbin'?ez far as I kin remember, yoi haven't onloaded much. Ef you're talkir about what oughter've been done, I'll tell yoi what could have happened. P'r'aps ye nr ticed that when he pulled up I made a kin of grab for my wepping behind me?" "I did; and you weren't quick enough, said Hale shortly. "I wasn't quick enough, and that save you. For ef I got that pistol out and in sigh o' that man that held the gun " "Well," said Hale impatiently, "he'd hav hesitated." "He'd hev blown you with both barrel outer the window, and that before I'd got half cock on my revolver." "But that would have been only one ma gone, and there would have been five of yo left," said Hale haughtily. "That might have been e?,you'd contract? to take the hull charge of two handfuls c buckshot and slugs; but ez one-eighth of the amount would have done your business, an yet left enough to have gone round, promii kiss, and satisfied the other passengers, i wouldn't do to kalkilate upon." "But the express messenger and the drive were armed," continued Hale. "They were armed, but not fixed; tha makes all the difference." "I don't understand." "I reckon you know what a duel is?" "Yes." "Well, the chances agin us was about th same as you'd have ef you was put up agi another chap who was allowed to draw bead on you, and the signal to fire was you drawin' your weapon. You may be stranger to this sort o' thing, and p'r'aps yo never fought a duel, but even then yo wouldn't go foolin' your life away on an such chances." Something in the man's manner, as in certain sly amusement the other passenger appeared to extract from the conversatior impressed Hale, already beginning to be cor dousofthe ludicrous insufficiency of his ow VtociVla that r\t hia interlocutor. "Then you mean to say this thing is ir evitable," said he bitterly, but less aggres sively. "Ez long ez they hunt you; when you bun them you've got the advantage, alius pre vided you know how to get at them ez we! as they know how to get c.t you. This ye coach is bound to go regular, and on certai days. They ain't. By the time the sheril gets out his posse they've skedaddled, and th leader, like as not, is takin' his quiet cockta at the Bank Exchange, or mebbe losin' hi earnings to the sheriff over draw poker i Sacramento. You see you can't prove anj thing agin them unless you take them 'on th fly.' It may be a part of Joaquim Murietta band, though I wouldn't swear to it." "The leader might have been Gentlema George, from up country," interposed a pa; senger. "He seemed to throw in a few fane touches, particlerfy in that 'Good night Sorter chucked a little sentiment in il Didn't seem to be the same thing ez 'Git, ye d?d suckers,' on the other line." "Whoever he was he knew the road an the men who traveled on it Like ez not b went over the line beside the driver on th box on tho down trip, and took stock c everything. He even knew I had thos greenbacks, though they were handed to m in the bank at Sacramento. He must hav been bangin' round there." For some moments Hale remained silenl He was a civic-bred man, with an intense lov of law and order; the kind of man who is th first to take that law and order into his ow hands when he does not find it existing t | please him. He had a Bostonian's respect fc j respectability, tradition and propriety, bu was willing to face irregularity ancl impr< priety to create order elsewhere. He we fond of nature with these limitations, neve quite trusting her unguided instincts, an finding her as an instructress greatly ii: ferior to Harvard university, though poss bly not to Cornell. With dauntless entei prise and energy he had built and stocked charming cottage farm in a nook in th Bierras, whence he opposed, like the lesse Englishman that he was, his own tastes t those of the alien west. In the present in stance he felt it incumbent upon him no only to ussert his principles, but. to act upoi them with his usual energy. How far h was impelled by the half contemptuou passiveness of his companions it would b difficult to say. "What is to prevent the pursuit of them a once?" he asked suddenly. "We are a fe\ miles from the station, where hors< can b procured." "Who's to do it?" replied the other lazily "The stage company will lodge tho complain with the authorities, but it will take two day to get the county officers out, and it's nobod; else's funeral." j "I will go for one," said Hale quietly. " j have a horse waiting for ine at the station and can start at once." I There was an instant of silence. The stag j coach had left the obscurity of the forest, an by the stronger light Hale could perceive tba his companion was examining him with tw i colorless, lazy eyes. Presently he saiJ, meel ing Hale's clear glance, but rather as if yield I inz to a careless reflection: "It might be done with four men. \V oughter raise one man at the station." H i paused. "I don't know ez I'd mind taking j hand myself," ho added, stretching out hi j legs with a slight yawn. "Ye can count me in, if you're goin', kerne j I reckon I'm talkin' to Kernel Clinch," sai j the passenger beside Hale with sudden ala( j rity. "I'm Rawlins, of Frisco. Heerd of y | afore, kernel, and kinder spotted you ji< I now from your talk." To Hale's surprise the two men, after awl j wardly and perfunctorily grasping eac other's hand, entered at once into a langui conversation on the recent election at Fresn< without the slightest further reference to tb pursuit of the robbers. It was not until tb remaining and undenominated passenge turned to Hale, and, regretting that he ha immediate business at the Summit, offered t accompany the party if they would wuit couple of hours, that Col. Clinch briefly r< turned to the subject. "Four men will do, and ez we'll hev to tali horses from tho station we'll hev to take tli fourth man from there." o ' With these words he resumed his uninter- road ' esting conversation with the equally uninter- Tho ! ested Rawlins, and tho undenominated pas- in tl 0 senger subsided into an admiring and dreamy in 1 0 1 contemplation of them both. With all his cert principle and really high minded purpose, they t- Hale could not help feeling constrained and here 0 annoyed at the sudden, subordinate and aux- Hi a iliary position to which he, the projector of only the enterprise, had been reduced. It was true ?c e that he bad never offered himself as their you1 s leader; i'o was true that the principle he the | wished to uphold and the effect he sought to a e obtain would be equally demonstrated under thro li another; it was true that the execution of his an0) a own conception gravitated by some occult impulse to the man who had not sought it, ti and whom ho had always regarded as an in- fljgs I capable. But all this was so unlike precedent shoc or tradition that, after the fashion of cons servative men, he was suspicious of it, and wiie ', only that his honor was now involved ho trifli ; would have withdrawn from the enterprise. on u , j There was still a chance of reasserting mm- nj<]e self at the station, where he was known, n and where some authority might be deputed piet< t to hfih. wild I But even this prospect failed. The station, mog, half hotel and half stable, contained only the an(j rj landlord, who was also express agent, and the i new volunteer whom Clinch had suggested CQm 0 would be found among the stable men. The jov..] f nearest justice of the peace was ten miles away, and Hale had to abandon even his gtan h hope of being sworn in as a deputy constable. ^Qre a This introduction of a common and illiterate a ostler into the party on equal terms with ceecj ,i himself did not add to his satisfaction, and a u i-emark from Rawlins seemed to complete tQ g his embarrassment. | [} "Ye had a mighty narrer escape down jjne there just now." said that gentleman confi- Qg , i dentially, as Hale buckled his saddle girths. "I thought, as we were not supposed to a defend ourselves, there was no danger," said Hale scornfully. ^ "Oh, I don't mean them road agents. But ' him." ,and "Who?" circ' jg "Kernel Clinch. You jist ez good as al- 3,001 a lowed ho hadn't any grit." 1 "Whatever I said, I suppose I am respon- sPac n sible for it," answered Hale haughtily. sec^1 u "That's what gits me," was the imperturb- nevt able reply. "He's the best shot in southern trav j California, and hez let daylight through a nPP? ^ dozen chaos afore now for half what you him: t said." abys J "Indeed!" it b "Howsummever," continued Rawlins, phil- an I osophically, "cz he's mcluded to go with ye abai instead of for ye, you're likely to hev your step: ideas on this matter carried out up to the whi< r handle. He'll make short work of it, you ridg ^ bet. Ef, ez I suspect, the leader is an airy side young feller from Frisco, who hez took to the high road lately, Clinch hez got a personal grudge migl agin him from a quarrel over draw poker." banc This was the last blow to Hale's ideal cru- Tt | sade. Here he was?an honest, respectable strui ClCIZGll"~tJl]gll^l'U US Minipio aci.cooui j lu u uiw lawless vendetta originating at a gambling with a tabic! Wlien the fbst shock was over that with J* grim philosophy which is tho reaction of all evid a imaginative and sensitive natures came to his vast U aid. Ho felt better; oddly enough he began cbit< U to be conscious that he was thinking and act^ ing like his companions. With this foeiing a ence vague sympathy, before absent, faintly 111151 a showed itself in their actions. The Sburpe's "S the f rifle put into his hands by the stableman was '' accompanied by a familiar word of sugge3tion as to an equal, which he was ashamed to c?nt 11 find'HattwcxPhim. He was able to continue Pine the conversation with Rawlins more coolly. "Then you suspect who is the leader?" "Only on giniral principles. There was a finer touch, so to sp?ak, in this yer robbery cour ' that wasn't in the old fashioned style. Down H in my country they hed crudo ideas about them things?used to strip the passengers of ^ow r everything, includin' their clothes. They say Pers a that at the station hotels, when the coaches c^ar came in, the folks used to stand round with ture ? blankets to wrap up the passengers so ez not to lnatl skeer tho wimcn. Thar's a story that tho 5 driver and express manager drove up one day in 1 11 with only a copy of The Alty Californy steP wrapped around 'em; but thin," added Raw- 111 ,e lins grimly, "there was folks ez said the hull unS 8 story was only an advertisement got up for ^ufc ThoAlty." Piclu n "Time's up." l)en{ *" "Are you ready, gentlemen?1' said CoL ^an' y Clinch. " * Halo started. He had forgotten Tils wife aust and family at Eagle's Court, ton miles away. nex< r They would lx> alarmed at his absence, would ^'S! perhaps hear some exaggerated version of the ^ stage coach robbery and fear tho worst. *eas1 6 "Is there any way I could send a line to Prac e Eagle's Court before daybreak ?' ho asked ^rot '' eagerly. cr^' ? The station was already drained of its e sjjaro men and horses. Tho undenominatcd sum 6 passenger stepped forward and offered to tber ... . 1 take it himself when his business, which he u,,u ^ would dispatch as quickly as possible, was dirt 6 concluded. uns? 6 "That ain't a bad idea," said Clinch, re- the i n flectively, "for of yer hurry you'll head 'cm and ? off in case they scent us, and try to double yell' r back on the North ridge. They'll iiglt shy aire of the trail if they see anybody on it, and thin y one man's as good as a dozen." 'nca 13 Hale could not help thinking thut ho h^tr r might have been that one man, and had his curi ^ l opportunity for independent action but for Kat J" ] his rash proposal, but it was too late to with- enct l" ! draw now. Ho hastily scribbled a few lines Miss j to his wife on a sheet of the tation paper, inau a handed it to the man, and took his place in corn 9 j the little cavalcade as it filed silently down in h ' j the road. ^ hori j j w4nrl ^ ^'the cow^co o | They had ridden in silence for nearly an steai t- j hour, and had passed the scene of the rob- chj]( [- bcry by a higher track. Morning had long qUef ago advanced its colors on the cold white had e peaks to their right, and was taking posses- j,nit e j sion of the spur where they rode. s|10 ] a T "It looks like snow," said Rawlins quietly. canj is Hale turned toward him in astonishment. p)on | Nothing on earth or sky looked less likely, ^at 1. It had been cold, but that might have been ?hju d 1 only a current from the frozen peaks beyond, f0ri j Teaching the lower valley. The ridge on nay. e 'which they had halted was still thick with nior it yellowish-green summer foliage, mingled her ( with the darker evergreen of pine and fir. 0f hi , Oven-like canyons in tne long nanks or tne ?per ! mountain seemed still to glow with the heat jitcl j of yesterday's noon; the breathless air yet and ) I trembled and quivered over stifling gorges undi 0 nnd jiasses in the granite rocks, while far ut jng , e I their feet sixty miles of perpetual summer the ] r j stretched away over the winding American jirt, j river, now and then lost in a gossamer haze, dom o ! It was scarcely ripe October where they Arci a i stood; they could sec the plenitude of August M still lingering in the valleys. witL "I've seen Thomson's pass choked up with prid ;e flfteen feet o' snow earlier than this," said relai ie Rawlins, answering Halo's gaze; "and last Mrs. 1 September the passengers sledded over the shat [ wo came last night, and all the time mson, a mile lower down over the ridge ,, le hollow, smoking his pipo under roses [lis piazzy! Mountains is mighty unain; they mako their own weather ez want it. I reckon you ain't wintered yet." ale was obliged to admit that he had taken Hhgle's Court in the early spring. I., )h, you're all right at Eagle's?when re there! But it's like Thomson's?it's 1. jettin' there that's?Hallo I What's that?" shot, distant but distinct, hod rung ugh the keen air. It was followed by ;her so alike as to seem an echo. 'hat's over yon, on the North ridge," the ostler, "about two miles as tho crow and five by the trail. Somebody's itin' b'ar.1' : lot with a shot gun," said Clinch, quickly { eling his horse with a gesture that clec- m ?d them. "It's them, and they've doubled ? s! To the North ridge, gentlemen, and all you know!" needed no second challenge to com- , ;ly transform that quiet cavalcade. The i , man-hunting rnstihct,'Inseparable to' t humanity, rose at their leader's look word. With an incoherent and unintelile cry, giving voice to the chase like the monest hound of their fields, tho order ng Hale and the philosophical Rawlins elod with tho others, and in another iut the little band swept out of sight in the St. n immense and immeasurable quiet suced. The sunlight glistened silently on and scar, the vast distance below seemed tretch out and broaden into repose. It bt have been fancy, but over the sharp of the North ridge a light smoke lifted f an escaping soul. CHAPTER II. igle's Court, one of the highest canyons of Sierras, was in reality a plateau of tabla [, embayed like a green lake in a semialar sweep of granite, that, lifting itself ) feet higher, became a foundation for sternal snows. The mountain genii of e and atmosphere jealously guarded its ision and surrounded it with illusions; it >r looked to bo exactly what it was; the ? I*. V??H. ..M eier wuu saw 10 num ilu ^unu nu^o uently at bis feet in descending found self separated from it by a mile long >s and a rushing river; those who sought y a seeming direct trail at the end of hour lost sight of it completely, or, idoning the quest and retracing their s, suddenly came upon the gap through :h it was entered. That which from the e appeared to be a copse of bushes bethe tiny dwelling were trees 300 feet i; the cultivated lawn before it, which lit have been covered by the traveler's Ikerchief, was a field of 1,000 acres, le house itself was a long, low, irregular rture, chiefly of roof and veranda, pietquely upheld by rustic pillars of pine, i the bark still adhering, and covered i vines and trailing roses. Yet it was ent that the coolness produced by this extent of cover was moro than the ar;ct, who had planned it under the influof a staring and bewildering sky, ^ad tfully conceived, for it had to be mftid by blazing fires in open hearths when thermometer marked 100 degrees in the beyond. The dry, restless wind that inually rocked the tall masts of the s with a sound like the distant sea, while imulated outdoor physical exertion and:'' <1 fatigue, left the sedentary dwellers in a altitudes chilled in the shade they ted, or scorched them with lieac when ventured to bask supinely in the sun. te muslin curtains at the French wins, and rugs, skins and heavy furs dised in the interior, with certain other ming but incongruous details of furni , marked the inconsistencies of tho cli3. iere was a coquettish indication of this he costume of Miss Kate Scott as she ped out on tho veranda that morning. ian's broad-brimmed Panama hat, partly ixed by a twisted, gayly colored scarf, retaining enough character to give lancy to the pretty curves of tho face ;ath, protected her from tho sun; a red nel shirt?another spoil from tho enemy id a thick jacket shielded her from the erities of the morning breeze. Cut tho ; inconsistency was peculiarly her own. i Kate nlways wore tho freshest and test of white cambric skirts, without the t reference to the temperature. To the itical sanatory remonstrances of her ,ber-in-law, and to tho conventional cism of her sister, she opposed the same nse: "How else is one to tell when it is mer in this ridiculous climate? Ar.d i, woolen is stuffy, color draws the sun, one at least knows when one is clean or y." Artistically the result was far from itisfactory. It was a pretty figure under somber pines, against tho gray granite the steely sky, and seemed to lend the owing fields from which tho flowers had ady fled a floral relief of color. I do not k the few masculine wayfarers of that lity objected to it; indeed, some had ayed an indiscreet admiration, and had ously followed tho invitation of Miss 1.. ?I a us vwuiiuj uuiuicu u^uiu uutii lucj uuu juntered tho invincible indifference of i Kate's cold gray eyes. "With these lifestations her brother-in-law did not rem himself; he had perfect confidence er unqualified disinterest in the neighng humanity, and permitted her to der in her solitary picturesqueness, or nnpanied her when she rode in her dark n habit, with equal freedom from iety. sr Miss Scott, although only 20, had ady subjected most of her maidenly illus to mature critical analyses. She had intarily accompanied her sister and her to California, in the earnest hope nature contained something worth sayto her, and was disappointed to find she already discounted its value in the pages ooks. She hoped to find a vague free. in this unconventional life thus opened er, or rather to show others that she ,v how intelligently to appreciate it, but et sho was only able to express it in the detail of dress already alluded to. Some he men, and nearly all of the women, she met thus far, she was amazed to find, led tho conventionalities sho believed she lised, and were voluntarily assuming the ns she thought she had thrown off. lull of learning anything from them, these Iren of nature had bored her with eager ;tionings regarding the civilization she abandoned, or irritated her with crude ations of it for her benefit. "Fancy," bail written to a friend in Boston, "my ng on Sue Murphy, who remembered tho ner tragedy, and who once shot a grizzly wns nrowlim* round her online and k of her begging me to lend her my sack i pattern, and wanting to know if 'polos' were still worn." She remembered o bitterly the romance that had tickled earlier fancy, told of two college friends er brother-in-law's who were living the feet life" in tho mines, laboring in the hes with a copy of Homer in their pockets, writing letters of the purest philosophy 2r tho free air of the pines. How, comunexpectedly on them in their Arcadia, party found them unpresentable through and thenceforth unknowable through estic complications that had filled their idian cabin with half-bred children. , uch of this disillusion she had kept tin her own heart, from a feeling of e, or only lightly touched upon it in her tions with her mother and sister. For , Hale and Mrs. Scott had no idols to ter, no enthusiasm to subdue. Firmly a^l unalterably conscious of their own superiority to tho life they led and the community that surrounded them, they accepted their duties cheerfully, and performed them conscientiously. Those duties were loyalty to Hale's interests and a vague missionary work among the neighbors, which, like most missionary work, consisted rather in making their own ideas understood than in understanding the ideas of their audience. t)ld Mrs. Scott's zeal was partly religious, Wi,jnheritance from her Puritan ancestry; Mrs. Hale's was the atfability of a gentlo wnmnn nnrl flin nhlicrnfinn nf Iipp nneittnn O To this was added the slight languor of the 'cultivated American wife, whose health has been affected by tho birth of her first child, and whose views of marriage and maternity were slightly tinged with gentle scepticism. She was sincerely attached to her husband, sj'who dominated the household," liko the rest Of his "women folk," with the faint con (dbusness of that division of service which renders the position of the sultan of a seraglio at once so prominent and so precarious. jTho attitude of John Hale in his family circle^as dominant because it had never been subjected to criticism or comparison; and perilous for the same reason. Mrs. Halo presently joined her sister on the veranda, and, shading her eyes with a narrow white hand, glanced on the prospect with a polite interest and ladylike urbanity. The searching sun, which, as Miss Kate onco intimated, was "vulgarity itself," stared at her in return, but could not call a blush to her somewhat sallow cheek. Neither could it detract, however, from the delicate prettiness of her refined face, with its soft gray shadows, or the dark, gentle eyes, whoso blue-veined lids were just then wrinkled into coquettishly mischievous lines by the strong light She was taller and thinner than Kate, and had at times a certain shy, i_oy sinuosity of movement which gave her a more virginal enrrrracffVior* Vipr iinmorrinrl eicfrpr TTni* oubb??v,u Miss Kate, from her earliest youth, had been distinguished by that matronly sedatcnes3 of voice and step, and completeness of figure, which indicates some members of the gallinaceous tribe from their callow infancy. "I suppose John must have stopped at the Summit on some business," said Mrs. Hale, "or he would have l>een hero already. It's scarcely worth while waiting for him, unless you choose to ride over and meet him. You might change your dress," sho continued, looking doubtfully at Kate's costume. "Put on your riding habit, and take Manuel with you." " You vnghl change your dress." "And take tbo only man we have, anil leave you alone*" returned Kate slowly. "No!" "There are the Chinese field hands," said Mrs. Hale; "you must correct your ideas, and really allow them some humanity, Kate. John says they have a very good compulsory school system in their own country, and can read and write." "That would be of little use to you here alone if?if"?Kate hesitated. "It what?" said Mre. Ilale, smiling. "Are you thinking of Manuel's dreadful story of the grizzly tracks across the fields this morning? I promise you that neither I nor mother, nor Minnie, shall stir out of the house until your return, if you wish it." "I wasn't thinking of that," said Kato; "though I don't bolievo the beating of a gong and the using of strong languago is the best way to frighten a grizzly from the house. Besides, the Chinese are going down the river to-day to a funeral, or a wedding, or a feast of stolen chickens?they're all the same?and won't be here." "Then take Manuel," repeated Mrs. Hale. "We have the Chinese servants and Indian Molly in the house to protect us from Heaven knows what! I have the greatest confidence in Chy-Lee as a warrior, and in Chinese warfaro generally. One has only to hear hira pipe in time of peace to imagine wha t a terror he might become in war time. Indeed, anything more deadly and soul-harrowing than that love song he sang for us last night I cannot conceive. But really, Kate, I am not afraid to stay alone. You know what John says: we ought to be always prepared for anything that might happen." "My dear Josie," returned Kate, putting her arm around her sister's waist, "I am perfectly convinced that if Three-flngcred Jack, or Two-toed Bill, or even .loaqulm Jlunetta himself should step, red handed, on that veranda you would gently invite him to take a cup of tea, inquire about the state of the road, and refrain delicately from any allusions to the sheriff. But I sba'n't take Manuel from you. I really cannot undertake to look after his morals at the station, and keep him from drinking aguardiente with suspicious characters at the bar. It is true ho 'kisses my hand' in his speech, even when it is thickest, and offers his back to me for a horse block, but I think I prefer the sober and honest familiarity of even that Pike county landlord who is satisfied to say, 'Jump, girl, and I'll ketch ye!''' "I hope you didn't change your manner to either of them for that," said Mrs. Hale with a faint sigh. "John wants to be good friends with them, and they are behaving quite decently lately, considering that they can't speak a grammatical sentenc e nor know the use of a fork." "And now the man puts on gloves nnd a tall hat to come here on Sundays, and the woman won't call until you've called first," retorted Kate; "perhaps you call that improvement. Tho fact is, Josephine," continued the young girl, folding her arms demurely, "we might as well admit it at once ?these people don't like us." "That's impossible!" said Mrs. Ilnle, with sublime simplicity. "You don't like them, you mean." "I like them better than you do, Josic, nnd that's the reason why I feel it and you don't." She checked herself, and after a pause resumed in a lighter tone: "No; I shan't go to the station; I'll commune with nature to-day, and won't 'take any humanity in mine, thank vnii ' nvi Will tVip rlrivnr kjivu Afiirvs." "I wish Kate would not use that dreadful slang, even in jest," said Mrs. Scott, in her rocking chair at the French window, when Josephine re-entered the parlor as her sister walked briskly away. "I am afraid sho is being infected by the people at the station. Sbe ought to have a change." "I was just thinking," said Josephine, looking abstractedly at her mother, "that I would try to get John to take her to San Francisco this winter. The Careys are expected, you know; she might visit them." "I'm afraid if she stays here much longer sho won't care to see them at all. She seems to care for nothing now that sho ever liked before," returned the old lady ominously. Meantime the subject of these criticisms was carrying away her own reflections tightly buttoned up in her short jacket. She had driven back her dog Spot?another one of her disillusions, who, giving way to his lower nature, had once killed a sheep?as she did not wish her Jacques-like contemplation of any wounded deer to be inconsistently interrupted by a fresh outrago from her companion. The air was really very chilly, and for the'first time in her mountain experience the direct rays of the sun seemed to be shorn of their power. This compelled her to walk more briskly than she was coascious of, for in less than an hour she came suddenly and breathlessly upon the mouth of the canyon or UUIUJUI ?X LHJ ?T a. J tu LUUJ L. To her always a profound spectacle of mountain magnificence, it seemed to-day almost terrible in its cold, strong grandeur. The narrowing pass was choked for a moment between two gigantic buttresses of granite, approaching each other so closely at their towering summits that trees growing in opposite clefts of the rocks intermingled their branches and pointed the soaring Gothic arch of a stupendous gateway. She raised her eyes with a quickly beating heart. She know that the interlacing trees above her were as large as those she had just quit_ ted; she knew also that the point where they met was only half way up the cliff, for she had once gazed down upon them, dwindled to shrubs from tho airy summit; she knew that their shaken cones fell a thousand feet perpendicularly, or bounded like shot from the scarred walls they bombarded. She remembered that one of these pines, dislodged from its high foundations, had once dropped like a portcullis in the archway, blocking the pass, and was only carried afterward by assault of steel and fire. Bending her head mechanically, she ran swiftly through the shadowy passage, and halted only at the beginning of the ascent on the other side. It was hero that the actual position of the plateau, so indefinite of approach, began to be realized. It now appeared an independent elevation, surrounded on three sides by gorges and water courses, so narrow as to bo overlooked from the principal mountain range, with which it was connected by a long canyon that led to the ridge. At the outlet of this canyon?in bygone ages a mighty river?it had the appearance of having been slowly raised by the diluvium of that river, and the debris washed down from above?a suggestion repeated in miniaturo by the artificial plateaus of excavated soil raised before the mouth of mining tunnels in the lower flanks of the mountain. It was the realization of a fact?often forgotten by the dwellers in Eugle's Court?that the valley below them, which was their connecting link with the surrounding world, was only reached by ascending the mountain, and tie nearest road was over the higher mountain ridge Never before had that impressed itself so strongly upon the young girl as when she turned that morning to look upon the plateau below her. It seemed to illustrate the conviction that had been slowly shaping itself ^ut of her reflections on the conversation of that morning. It wus possible that the perfect understanding of a higher life was only reached from a height still greater, ana mac 10 mose nan way up the mountain the summit was never as truthful]}- revealed as to the humbler dwellers in the valley. I do not know that these profound ti-uths prevented her from gathering some quaint ferns and berries, or from keeping her calm gray eyes open to certain practical changes that were taking place around her. She had noticed a singular thickening in the atmosphere that seemed to prevent the passage of the sun's rays, yet without diminishing the transparent quality of the air. The distant snow peaks were as plainly seen, though they appeared as if in moonlight. This seemed due to no cloud or mist, but rather to a fading of the sun itself. The occasional flurry of wings overhead, the whirling of larger birds in the cover, and a frequent rustling in the undergrowth, as of the passage of some stealthy animal, began equally to attract her , attention. It was so different from the habitual silence of these sedate solitudes. Kato had no vaguo fear of wild beasts; she had been long enough a mountaineer to understand the general immunity enjoyed by the luimolesting wayfarer, and kept her way undismayed. She was descending an abrupt trail when she was stopped by a sudden crash in the bushes. It seemed to come from the opposite incline, directly in a line with her, and apparently on the very trail that she was pursuing. The crash was then repeated again and again lower down, as of a descending body. Expecting the apparition of some fallen tree, or detached bowlder bursting through the thicket, in its way to the bottom of the gulch, she waited. The foliage was suddenly brushed aside, and a large grizzly benr half rolled, half waddled, into the trail on the opposite side of the hill. A few moments more would have brought them face to face at the foot of the gulch; when she stopped there were not fifty yards between them. She did not scream; she did not faint; she was not even frightened. There did not seem to be anything terrifying in this huge, stupid beast, who, arrested by the rustle of a stone displaced by her descending feet, rose slowly on his haunches and gazed at her with small, wondering eyes Nor did it seem strange to her, seeing that he was in her way, to pick up a stone, throw it in his direction and say simply, "Slio! get away I" as she would have done to an intruding cow. Nor did it seem odd that he should actually "go away" as he did, scrambling back into the bushes again and disappearing like some grotesque liguro in a transformation scene. It was not until after he had gone that she was taken with a slight nervousness and giddiness, and retraced her steps somewhat hurriedly, shying a littlo at every rustle in the thicket. By the timy she had reached the great gateway she was doubtful whether to be pleased or frightened at the incident, but she concluded to keep it to herself. It was still intensely cold. The light of the midday sun bad decreased still more, and on reaching the plateau again she saw that a dark cloud, not unlike the precursor of a thunder storm, was brooding over the snowy peaks beyond. In spite of the cold this singular suggestion of summer phenomena was still borne out by the distant smiling valley, and even in tho soft grasses at her feet. It seemed to her the crowning inconsistency of tho climate, and with a half serious, half playful protest on her lips sho hurried forward to seel: the shelter of the house. [to bk coxtixuko.] Hints for Those Who Need Them.?Paper and envelopes are stamped in black, with crest, coat of arms, initial or street address, while in deep mourning; during half mourning, in French gray or silver and black illuminated. Always keep step with the person you are walking with. When dining with others, endeavor to eat so as to finish the c.ourse at the same time with them. Jn America a woman, if she be quietly dressed and deport herself with dignity, can go any where and do almost anything without fear of insult. It has long been an accepted idea that a gentleman is well dressed when his attire in every particular is such as to attract no special attention. In other words, a well dressed man is one whose costume is onspicuous neither for over elegance nor shabbiness. Do not cut your bread at the table, but break it. Do not pare an apple, peach or pear for another without holding it with a fork. jfflfeccUancous Itradrog. THAT TYPICAL AMERICAN. TJl VTIl S TEA XG EK Til A X FICTIOX. ! [From the Louisville Times.] ! About the most entertaining talker I j have listened to for many a day is Judge j James Madison Nelson, of Xyack, N. Y. He is a native of C'larkecounty, Kentucky. His father, Thomas Pope Nelson, was the first United States Minister to Turkey, and died while a member of Congress from the Winchester, Kentucky, district. Hisgreatgrandfather was Thomas Nelson, Jr., one of the Virginia signers " of the Declaration of Independence. Nel- j crin #?nnntv nf u;hif>h Rurrlstnwn is tho , seat, was named for this famous family. < Gen. Nelson, who was killed at the Gait ] House early in the war by Gen. Jeff Davis, and his brother, Gen. Nelson, late Minis- j ter to Mexico, a familiar figure in Wash- ] ington, are of this immediate family, j Judge James Madison Nelson went from ] Kentucky to Illinois, and later to New ] York.wherehehasrepeatedly been a mem- J ber of the Legislature and prominent in i politics. He knew Abraham Lincoln inti- . mately for a quarter of a century, and was often with him at the White House during the trying times of the war. He is an ar- | dent admirer of the "martyr President," but must, he says, smile at the stories told and the efforts to manufacture a demigod. He says Mr. Lincoln was a child of nature, with kindly impulses, somestreaks i of genius and which compensated for his lack of culture. The Judge tells me some things which I am satisfied have never , appeared in print. Said he: "In religion Mr. Lincoln was of about the same belief as Bob Ingersoll, and there is no account of his ever having changed. He went to I church a few times with his family while he was President, but so far as I have been able to find out he remained an unbeliever. I asked him once about his fer- < vent Thanksgiving message, and twitted him with being an unbeliever, in what . was published. 'Oh,'said he, that is some j of Seward's nonsense, and it pleases the fools.' Mr. Lincoln, in his younger days, wrote a book, which was published, in . which he endeavored to prove the fallacy of the plan of salvation and of the divinity of Christ. "Is it true that Lincoln was a lunatic < fnr it timo'"' T UttL*?>rl "Yes. lie went crazy because he could , not marry a sister of Judge Ninian Ed- ; wards, who was a native of Logan county, Ky., but then a Judge in Illinois. Lin- j coin went stark mad on this last affair and ( was confined in a log hut with a roof nailed down to prevent his escape, and , fed through a crack between the logs. Some young Kentuckians, whose fathers . had settled them upon the rich lands of Southern Illinois, heard that a young man from their State was shut up under such miserable conditions, and they went up to the lonely cabin and took him to Kentucky, where he was placed in an asylum and remained lor a year or eighteen months. He afterwards married Miss Todd, Judge Ed wards' sister-in-law, you will remember. It was an ill-starred match, and she led him an unhappy life. It was that which gave him that woebegone look. Congenially mated he would have been one of the happiest of men. His wife fussed and quarreled with him. She had a contempt for his plebian origin, and often taunted him with it. She was a more rabid Republican during the war than her husbancl, though she was doubted at the North. "As a.i illustration of my statement her youngest sister, Lucy, had married an Alabamian named White. White was elected to the Confederate Congress and was at Richmond. His wife was visiting relatives in the country at the time and came to Washington to get a pass through the lines. She called at the White House and sent her name to her sister, the President's wife. Mrs. Lincoln refused to see her. She sent her name up again and was again refused. She went to the National Hotel and sought Mr. Crittenden, who was then a Senator from Kentucky, 'Why,' said he, 'are you a daughter of my old friend, Col. Todd?" and he hugged and kissed her there and then as he would a child. 'Of course,' said he, you have been to see your sister at the White House?' " 'Yes,' she replied ; but she refused to see me." "'Very well,' said Mr. Crittenden; 'I will see what I can do for you with the President. I think I can get you a pass through the lines to your husband.' The next day Mr. Crittenden went with her to the White House and, leaving her in the carriage, he went up to the President's presence and told him that his sister-inlaw, Mrs. Lucy White, of Alabama, was below and wanted to see him. "What, Lou here? I'll go right down to see her. Why didn't you bring her up?" Lincoln suddenly slapped on his old slouch hat and hastened down the stairs to see his youngest sister-in-law. He embraced her and lifted her out of the carriage. He asked her to come in, but she declined and told him what her sister had done the day before. She would not go in, for she told Mr. Lincoln what he i would catch if she did. Lincoln told her, of course, he would issue her the pass she wanted, and told her, jokingly, that he did not care how much quinine she carried through, and that her trunk should not be searched. You know there was then a great to do about the smuggling of quinine through the lines. Strangeas it may seem, Lincoln's sisters-in-law?three or four of them?were very fond of him, while his wifetreated him with ill-temper. "Stanton gave Lincoln a great deal of trouble. Lincoln told me that Stanton had been meaner to him than any man living. He said the reason that he appointed him was a long story, and that he would tell me all about it some day, but he never did. McClellan thought Stanton was just the man for Secretary of War, but he was abused and betrayed by him as soon as he got in. Stanton was a constitutional scoundrel, tyrant, hypocrite and brute. J told Mr. Lincoln all this one day, and he agreed with me fully, but said that he believed Stanton was honest, a rare virtue in those days. The President had said to me some time before, when I charged an official with stealing from the Government, that he believed that they wprp nil nt, it oxceDt Chase (Secretary of i ' Treasury). Bates (Attorney General) "and himself. He recalled the statement and said he would add Stanton whom he beI lieved was not stealing. Lincoln knew j Stanton was abusing him like a dog, but he didn't care. He had an idea that Stanton was tillingahard place. Lovejoy went to Stanton one day with a message from Lincoln. 'The President is a d?d 1 old fool!' said Stanton. 'What!' the Pres- 1 ident a d?d old fool did you say?' asked Lovejoy. 'Yes,'replied Stanton. 'I shall tell him,' said Lovejoy. 'I don't care if you do,' said Stanton. Lovejoy told the President of it with intense indignation. 1 'Well, I don't know but what Stanton is right, and 1 must drop the matter,' replied 1 Lincoln. I know that this occurred. Ju- 1 lian relates the incident from Lovejoy iu ] his book. Lincoln never had much re- 1 spect for Seward. He appointed him Sec- j retary of State to fill a promise. When ' Lincoln was nominated for the Presiden- ( cy, Seward, who had hoped for the nomi- 1 nation, and his political discoverer, Thur- < low Weed,skulked in their tents. Judge David Davis, went to New York, at the instance of Mr. Lincoln, and told Seward 1 that if he would go into Illinois and Min- i nesota and make speeches in the campaign 1 he should have a place in the Cabinet, i David Davis said he was authorized to speak for Mr. Lincoln. Weed was dis- 1 I rustful, and said Lincoln might appoint Seward and turn him out in a few weeks. Davis told them to make it as strong as hey pleased. Mr. Lincoln would write hem a letter guaranteeing the place for he full term. Judge Davis wrote the leter, but they were afraid to entrust it to he mails and Democratic postmasters. It vas sent on to Illinois by Tom Murray, vho was a political protege of Mr. Sewird, and had held the position of 'Harbormaster' in New York through his influ?nce for eighteen years at an annual salary )f ;*o,000. Murray delivered the document n due time, and Mr. Lincoln agreed 'rankly and fully to the terms. Mr. Lin:oln told Murray before he left that he should have a slice if the election went all ight. Murray indicated that he would ike to be United States Marshal for New Vork if the Presidency panned out according to promise. Mr. Lincoln agreed, and ifterward made good his word. When Seward and Weed were in Washington parceling out the offices after the election, Mr. Lincoln let them name the list until they got to the Marshal's place. He said lie had a man for that place himself. Seward and Weed in astonishment asked for his name. Lincoln said it was Tom Murray. Mr. Reward said Murray was not a candidate. He had known him for twenty years and had helped him into place, and he had never said a word about the Marshalship. 'That's all right,' said Mr. Lincoln, 'Tom is a candidate, and I am going to appoint him; and he will accept, for he has told me so.' Seward and Weed were amazed, but of course acquiesced.. Murray confirmed the story at the Willard hotel that night. He was appointed and served, as you know. "Lincoln regarded Seward as a'phrasemaker,' as he put it. He re-wrote Seward's explanation or apology for the giving up of Mason and Slidell. Seward had written the paper over a dozen times to round out the sentences. Lincoln scratched out and interlined it, and Seward sent the corrected copy. In 1802, 1 think itB was, the Senate met in a body?with? the exception of Harris of New York,? Cowan of Pennsylvania and Doolittle of? Wisconsin?called upon the President in? a body, and requested the resignation of? Seward. Harris had refused to join in? the movement because he was from Se-? ward's State, and Doolittle and Cowan? said they believed in the President form-? ing his Cabinet to suit himself. The Pres-? ident was much perplexed, and promised? to look into the matter. He went to Chase? and acquainted him with the situation,? and told him to tell Seward. The Presi-? dent said he was under promise to retain? Seward, and wanted to make it good.? He told Chase that there was nothing left? Seward but to resign, but added that he? (Chase) could save him by resigning? also. Said Lincoln to Chase: "If you re^| sign the railroads will be choked with? bankers and business men the next daji^H asking you to revoke it. The Senator?^ will ask you to take it back, but you mus^H save Seward. Resign with him, and re-H fuse to go back unless he goes with you^B You are the only man in the country bi^H enough to save him." H "Seward and Chase did resign, and th^| protests came pouririg in. The Senator^! and businessmen and politicians from al^| over the land begged Chase to recall hi^| resignation. Pie coupled his case witl^H Seward's, and there was a demand foj? both of them to remain. They did so? Lincoln chuckled over his cunning trick^f It saved Seward. Lincoln never had anj^H politics particularly but the abolition o?| slavery. He believed in that thoroughly^! He was a great man in a natural, simpl?| way, and unconscious of his powers. had an apt anecdote to illustrate almos^! any proposition that was presented. H^! was over six feet four inches, and his fist^! went to his knees when they hung down^! He was the only man I ever heard o? except Rob Roy MacGregor, whose arm? were so long. His hand was enormou^? It was like the hand of Providence. Hi^! features were all commonplace, excep?| his eyes, which snapped with humor es^! rtA/iin IIit iitKa*! V-i rv f Kia o4awtao TJa pcLiau^ >v iicu uc iuiu iJioaiuiico* xic na^n % way of looking straight into your faccfl| with his eyes emitting this fire that force^H conviction upon you. He would tell H| story without seeming to disagree wit^H your argument, that would utterly d^H molish your side of the case. He did ncH| use tobacco at all, nor did he drink, an<H| story-telling seemed to be his only diss^H pation and relaxation." M Judge Nelson says that Stephen Douglas sent for the Illinois and Indian^! delegation to come to his house in Wasl^H ington one Sunday shortly after Mr. LiiH[ coin's nomination. Judge Nelson w^H here then and went along with then^H Mr. Douglas told them they must say t^B the Democratic editors in their Stat^H that there were two thiugs in Mr. Lit^H coin's life that could not be mentioned i^B the campaign: his crazy spell and th^B book' he wrote against religion. MH| Douglas said Lincoln was a good ina^H and they might want his help, but l^B could never forgive an attack of that sor^B The episodes never appeared in the can^B paign assaults. * BH . Necessity of Two Ears.?Sound tra^D els by waves radiating from a centrBB point of disturbance, like the wavele^B caused by dropping a pebble into sti^B water. So far as the hearing of each i^H dividual is concerned, these waves mo^H in a direct line from the cause of sound S|| his ear, the impact being greatest in tflB ear that is nearest to the source. The feet,in this respect, of the want of hearii^B in one ear was forcibly illustrated by tnHj statement of a patient who consulted recently. He lived in a wild portion ^B Tennessee; and spent a good deal of h^B spare time in the woods, huntingsquirre^B accompanied only by his dog. An expl^B sion suddenly destroyed the hearing one ear. After this accident, while in tl^B woods, he found that he could hear hflH dog bark, but for the life of him he cou^B not tell the direction of the sound, ev<B| when quite close to him, and he was coi^B pel led to take his little boy along wiBa him to find the dog. After a time persoBH learn to correct, to a limited extent, tBa errors in estimating distances after thelo^B of vision, but the effect of the loss of ^^9 ear upon the estimation of the directionBB sound is never corrected.? Dr. WUliamsmHj Spontaneous Combustion of Woo^H Mr. Braidwood, superintendent of t^^9 London tire engine establishment, stat^H before a committee of the House of Lori^H that by a long exposure to heat not mu^H exceeding that of boiling water, timbe;^H brought into such a condition that som^H thing like spontaneous combustion tak^M place, and that it may take eight years flH the heat from pipes charged with or us^H to convey steam, hot water, or heated aflB laid among the joists of a floor, or in tHH heart of a partition, or elsewhere in^H building, incased in timber, to induce tflH condition necessary to the actual igniti^HJ of the timber. 9B| ? B?" Years ago?some say forty, oth^^B thirty?a young girl was in the act placing a white pitcher on a post whij^H stands near the South Carolina Railw^BB five miles from Aiken, when she struck dead by lightuing. Ever since t^^B tragic occurence the white pitcher IflB remained on the post, safe, by supen^^B tion from the touch of negroes, who l^^B lieve that the arm which touches it he paralyzed. Storms and cyclones earthquakes have not displaced it,^^H though the post which holds crumbling with decay. ? i?~If you want knowlege you^^^9|^H for it; if food, you must toil if pleasure you must toil for the law. Pleasure comes throuHj^^H ind not by self-indulgence and incn^^H^H When one gets to love work lappy one. ^