Bret Harte's New Romance.

IN THE CARQUINEZ WOODS:

A TALE OF CALIJTORNIA.

CHAPTER X

TifK iiCHt of the tunoful Rurnhams, although in tho suburbs of Indian Spring, was not in ordinary -weather and season hidden from the longing eyes of the youth of thatsottlc nient. That night, however, it was veiled in the smoke that encompassed the great highway leading to Excelsior. It is pre sumed that tho Burnham brood hnd lonjj since folded their wings, for there was no sign of life or movement in tliu house as a rapidlydriven hurso and buggy pulled uji before it. fortunately the paternal Burn ham was an early bird, in tin; habit of pick ing lip the first stirring mmmi/ worm, and

a resounding knock brought him hitlf dressed to the street door, lie mils start led at seeing Father Wynne before him n trillu finshod and abstracted.

■"Alilm! ii]i boUrnes, ] woo, and ready. No sluggards here -- ha ha !" lie said

iienrtily, slamming tho door behind him, and by a .series of poke* in the ribs genially

backing his host inlo his own sitting-room "I'm'ip, 100, and am hereto see Nellie She's here, oh—of course?" ho added, dart •ii«<_r :i rpiiclc look at Uiiruhain.

lint .Mi- Hunilmni ms mm of Uiuso largo, liberal Western husbands who elassilied Tils .household under the general title of " woman tolls,' for tlic intogurs of which ho was nof. responsible. He hesitated, and then propounded over (ho balusters to tliu upper story tho direct query- - " You don't, happen to have Nellie Wynne up there, do ye "!"

There was an interval of inquiry iirocuctl iiiK from half a dozen ivliirlnnl (hroiitH, inoro or less cottony and imifllcil, in those various decrees of ,i;iiev,Hiee and mental distress wliifih indicate too early loused young womanhood. The eventual reply seemed 1.0 bonfiirnmtive, alboitaaiompanied with 11 suppressed tfiwjk, an if the young ludy lwul jusl, ljuon diseoveied a,- tin an.-wer to mi iiiiiiisin^cuniindriini. "All right," said Wynne, with mi ap parent", neoession of boisterous M"iiality. "Tell her I must sou her, and I'm- only jjot a few minutes to spare. Tell her to dip on anything and come down ; theioV no one here but myself, and I'veshut tho front door on Brother Burnham. Ha, lui!'ami Hiiifc-

in}; Hio action to the word, ho actually bundled the admiring Brother Bimihuinoul on his own door-sfop. Tliore was a lighl nattering on tho staircase, and Nelliu Wynne, pink with sleep, very tall, vary slim, draped in a white counterpane with a blue border and a gonoral classic miggestion, ■slipped into tho parlour. At the sumu nwmonther father shut the door bolniid her, placed one hand on the knob, and with the other seized her wrist " Where were you yOHterday '!" he asked. Nellie looked at him, shrugged her shoulders, and said, " Here." " You were in the Oarquiuez "Woods with Low Dorraan j you wont tlicru in disguise; you've met him there before. He in your clandestine lover; you havo taken pledges of itflbction from him ; you have " "Stop !" aho said. He stopped. " Did he toll you this?" she asked, with an expression of disdain, "No; I overheard it. Dunn and Hnwo were at the house waiting for you. When the eoacli did not bring'yon I wont to the ollieu to inquire. Aa 1 left; our door 1 thought 1 saw somebody listening nt the parlour windows. It was only a drunken ilexican muleteer loaning against the house, but if he heard nothing A did. Nellie, 1 heard Brace tell Dunn that he had tracked you in your disguise to tho woods do you hear ?—that when you pretended to be here with the frills you were with Low — ulone ; that you wear a ring that Low got of a trader here : that there was n cabin in Hie woods " " Stop I" she repeated. Wynne again paused. " And what, did you do?" she asked. "1 heard they were starting down there to surprise you and him together, and J harnessed up and got ahead of them in my buggy." "And found me here,'' she said, loukiiifj full into his eyes. He understood her and returned the look. He recognised the full importance of the culminating fact conveyed in her words, and was obliged to content himself with it. logical and worldly significance. It was too late now to take her to task for mere filial • disobedience ; they must become allies. "Yes," he said hurriedly : " butif you •value your reputation, if you wish to silence both these men, answer mo fully." " Go on," she said. " Did you go to the cabin in the woods yesterday ?" " No/ "Did you over go there with Low*" "No; I do not know even where it is." Wynno felt that she was tolling the (truth. Nellie know it ; but as she would Jure boon equally satisfied with an equally efficacious falsehood, her faco remained un changed. " And when did he leave you ?" "At nino o'clock here. Ho went to tho ihotel." "Ho saved his life then, for Dunn is on his way to tho woods to kill him." The jeopardy of her lover did not seem to affect the young girl with alarm, although lier eyes betrayed some interest. • "Then Dunn has gone to the Woods?" •ahe said thoughtfully. " lie has," replied Wynne. "Is that all?" she asked. ': I want to know what yon aro goinir to do?" "I n<as going back to bed." "This is no time for trilling, girl." "1 should think not," she said with a yawn; "it's too early, or too late." Wynne grasped Sier wrisl. more tightly "Hearmo! l Jut whatever face you like on this affair, you are compromised and compromised with a man you can't marry." "1 don't know that 1 ever wanted to marry Low, if you mean him," she said quietly. "And Dunu wouldn't marry you notv?" " I'm not so sure of that eithor." "Nellie," said Wynne, excitedly, "do you want to drive mo mad? Have you nothing to say—nothing to suggest»" " Oll : yo» want mo to help you, do you' Why didn't you cay that at first ? Well, go and bring Dunn here." "Are you mad? Tho man has gone already in pursuit of your lover, believing you with him." " Then he will the more readily come and talk with me without him. Will you take tho invitation—yes or no!" "Yes, but—" " Enough. On your way there you will stop at tho hotel and give Low a letter from mo." " Nellie!" "You shall read it, of course," she said scornfully, "for it will be your text for the conversation you will have with him \\ ill you please take your hand from the lock" mid open the door :

Wynne mechanically opened the door. The young girl lluw upstairs. In a very few moment* she returned with two notes ; one contained a few lines of invitation to Dunn, tho other read as follows :

" I)i;au <Mv Diikh \s : My father will tell you how deeply I regret that our recent botanical excursions in the Carquinez Woods have boon a source of serious mis apprehensions to those who had 11 claim to my consideration, and that 1 shall be obliged to discontinue them for Hie future. At the same time he wishes mo to express wy gratitude for your valuable in struction and assistance in that pleasing study, ovonthoughapproaching events may compel me to rciintjuish it for other duties. May 1 bog you to accept the enclosed ring aH n. slight recognition of my obligations to you '; Your grateful pupil, Nkixiu Wv.vnk."

When ho had finished reading the letter she handed him v ring, which lie took mechanically. Hi- raised his eyes to hers with perfectly genuine admiration. "You re a good giri; NoJlio," lie said, and in a inomenl of parental fnrgotfulness, him-onscinusly advanced his lips, toward her clunk. Hut she drew back in lime to re call him to a sense of thai human weak ness.

" I suppose I'll have no lima for a imp yet," hliu siiiil, ii-s a liint In her em barrassed parent, Ilu iiudilucl und turned towurd tliu ilour. " If I were ymi," hlio continued, repress in^ji y.'iwn, "I'd innnuge tv lie scon on good terms will. Low lit Iliu hotel ; no, per haps, you need not give the letter to him until tliuluxl thing, (inoil-liyu." Tlio sitting-room iloor opened and clowd behind her us slm slipped up stair*, and her father, without (In: fdi-innlity of leaver faking, (juiully hi himself out by the front door. When ho drove into the high mad again, however, ;in overlooked possibility threat ened for a moment lo indefinitely postpone his iiiniablr inf.■!>! ions ivg.mlingLiw. The liolol wiw nl Ihe further und of the settle ment toward Iliu ('.•i;-.|ninr/ Woods, and as Wynne had m.-arly reached it he n 10 ---called In him - If by ih<: *niml.-- of hoofs and wheel.- i-.i ; :i,:. Hp|'ii-.Ki.:liiu;! from tiiu dirce thin i.l Ihc I". i-1,-i<-r turnpike. Wynne Hindu mi iluiihl il, was Ihu Sherill' and lirjico. To avoid ro.jo-nition at that nioincnl, ho whipped up his lioi'su, intend hit; to keep the lead until he vould turn in to the iirst rvrasK road lint the uoming travellers had Ihe llertii.st lim-su, and, find ing il impossililu lo distance them, he drove close to the dili.'h, pulling up suddenly as the Ktraii^e vuliic'lu « a.s abreast of him, and forcing them lo pas* at full speed, with the result already chronicled. When i.!iey hud vanished in Ihe ilarkiics, Mr Wynne, with ii lieurt nverllowiny with Christian thank fulness ami iinivciviil liunevolonue, whet-led round and drovo back to the hotel he had already passud To pull up at the verandah with listi.-iitiiriiiii clioul, to thump loudly at the deserted liar, lo hilariously beat the panels of the landlord's door, and commit a jocose assault and battery upon that half dressed and half-awakened man, was eminently chaiaeleristie of Wynne, and part of his amiable plans that morning. "SomotliHrg to wash this wood smoke from my throat, Brother Carter, and about as much again to prop open your eyes," be paid, dragging Carter before the bur, "and glasses round for as many of the buys an are up and stirring alter a hard-working Chris tian's rest! I low jjors the honest publican a trade, and also who have wo here!" "Thar's Judge Kobinson and two lawyers from Sacrnmento, Dick Curnon over from Volo," said C'urtor, "find that ar young Injin yaib doctor from (lie Curquincz Woods. 1 reckon he's jisl up—l noticed a li^'ht under his door as I passed." " He's my man fora friendly chat before breakfast," said Wynne. " Yon needn't (Mine up, I'll Mini the way. 1 don't want a light : 1 reckon my eyes ain't as bright nor as yonnjr as his, but they'll roo almost as far in the dark lie !he !" And, nodding to Brother Carter, ho strode along the pas sage, and with no other introduction than a playful and prcliminaiy " lioo !" burst into one of the rooms. Low, who, by the light of a single candle, was bending over tlio plates of a largo quarto, merely raised his eyes and looked at the intruder. "The young man's natural imperturbability, always ex asperating "to Wynne, seemed accented that morning by contrast with his own over acted animation. " Ah, ha!—wasting the midnight oil in-

Btoiul of imbibing the morning dews," said Father Wynne archly, illustrating hismota phor with a movement of his hand to his lips. " What have we here?" "An anonymous gift,'1 returned Low simply, recognising the father of XeHie by rising from his chair. "It's a volume I've longod to possest), but never could afford to buy. 1 cannot imagine who sent it to me.'1 Wynne was for a moment startled by the thought that tills recipient of valuable gifts might have influential friends. But a glance at the hare reom, which looked like a camp, and the .strange unconventional garb of its occupant, restored his former convic tions.. There might be a promise of intel ligonco, but scarcely of prosperity, in tho figure before him. "Ah! We must not forget that we are watched over in the night reason,'' he said, laying his hand on Low's shoulder with an illustration of celestial guardiam ship that would have been impious but for its palpable grotesquoness. "No, sir, we know not what a day may bring forth." Unfortunately, Low's practical mind did not go beyond a mere human interpreta tion. It was enough, however, to put a new light in his eye and a faint colour in his cheek. "Could it have been Miss Nellie?" ho asked, with half boyish hesitation. Mr Wynne was tot) much of a Christ'an not to bow before what appeared to him the purely Providential interposition of this suggestion. Seizing it and Low at the same moment, he playfully forced him down again in his chair. "Ah, you rascal !" he said, with infinite archness; " that's your game, is it ? You want to trap poor Father Wynne. You want to make him say ' No.' You want to tempt him to commit himself. No, sir !— never, sir ! —no, no !" Firmly convinced that tho present was Ncllic's,and that her fathergood-humouredly guessed it, tho young man's simple, truth ful nature was embarrassed. Ho longed to express his gratitude, but, feared to betray the young girl's trust. Tho Reverend Mr Wynne speedily relieved his mind. "No," he continued, bestriding a chair, and familiarly confronting Low over its back. "No, sir—no! And you want mo to say 'No,'don't you, regarding the littlo walks of Nellie and a certain young man in the;Carquincz Woods—ha, ha ! You'd like mo to say that i know nothing of the hotanisings, ami the herb collectings, and c picmeingß there—ho, he!—you ely dog .' Perhaps you'd like to tempt Father ! Wynne further, and make him swear he I know* nothing of his daughter's disguising herself in a duster and meeting another young man—isn't it another young man ? all alone, cli ? Perhaps you want poor old Father Wynne to say 'No.' No, sir, nothing of flic kind ever occurred. Ah,' you young raaeal!" Slightly troubled, in spite of Wynne's hearty manner, Lmv, with his usual direct ness, however, said, " 1 do not want anyone to deny that I have soon Miss Nellie," *

'• Certainly, certainly,"said Wynnu.oban doniiighi.smetliod,considerablydisconcoited by Low's simplicity and a certain natural re- Bcrvothatshookoflhisfamiliarity. "Certainly it's, a noble thing to be able to put your hand on your heart and say to the world, ' Come on, all of you ! Observe me; I have nothing to conceal. I walk with Miss Wynne in the woods as her instructor—her teacher, in fact. Wo null n llower here and there ; we pluck an herb fresh from the hands of the Creator. We look, so to speak, from Nature to Nature's Clod.' Yes, my young friend, we should bo the first to repel the proud calumny that could mi< in'erpret our most innocent factions." "Calumny?" repeated Low, starting to his feet. " What, calumny ?" "My friend, my noble young friend, I recognise your indignation. 1 know your worth. When I said to Nellie, my only child, my perhaps too simple offspring—a mere wildllower like yourself—when 1 said toher, 'Co, my child, walk in the woods with this young man hand in hand. Lot him instruct, you from the humblest roots, for he has trodden in the way." of the Almighty. Gather wisdom from his lips, and knowledge from his simple woodman's craft. Make, in fact, not only a collection of herbs, but of moral axioms and experi ence' —1 knew I could trust you, and trust ing you, my young friend, 1 felt 1 could trust the world. Perhaps I was weak, fool ish. But I thought only of her welfare. 1 even recall how, that to prcs.er.ve tho purity of her garments, I bade her don a simple duster; that to secure her from tho trifling conn aniouship of others, 1 bade her keep her own counsel and seek you at seasons known but to yourselves." "Hut—did Neilie -understand you:'' interrupted Low hastily. " J see you read her simple nature. Understand me? No, not at first! Her maidenly instinct—perhaps her duty to an other—took the alarm. 1 remember her words. 'But what will Dunn say?' she asked. ' Will ho not, bo jealous ?' " "Dunn! jealous! 1 don't understand," said Low, fixing his eyes on Wynne. "That's just what 1 said to Nellie.

1 Jealous :' 1 said. 'What ? Dunn, you allianeed husband, jealous of a mere fiienr —a teacher, a guide, a philosopher—sir impossible.' Well, sir, she was light, H< is jealous. And, more than that, he ha: imparted his jealousy to others ! In othei words, he lias made a scandal 1" " Where is your daughter now ':" he sail sternly. Low's eye- Hashed. At present in bed, wittering from a nor

vous attack brought on by these unjust suspicions. She appreciates your anxiety, an«l, knowing that you could not see her, told me to givo you this." Jte handed Low the ring and the letter. The climax had been forced, and, it must be confessed, was by no means the one Mr Wynne had fully arranged in his own inner consciousness. He had intended to take an unostentatious leave of Low in the bar room, deliver the letter with archness, and escape before a possible explosion. He con sequently backed toward the door for an emergency. But he was again at fault. Tnat unaffected stoical fortitude in acute Buffering, which was the one remaining pride and [flory of Low's race, was yet to be revealed to Wynne's civilised eyes. The young man took the letter and rend it without changing a muscle, folded the ring in it>-md dropped it into his havresack. Then he picked up his blanket, threw it over his shoulder, took his. trusty rifle in his hand, and turned toward Wynne aa if lie was coldly surprised that he was Ktill stand ing there.

"Areyou—are you—going?" stammered Wynne.

' Are you not'!" r«*lied Low dryly, le

ing un In.s ride for a moment an it waiting for Wynne to precede him. The preacher looked at him a moment, mumbled some tiling, and then shambled feebly and ineffec tively down the staircase before Low, with a painful suggestion to the ordinary observer of being1 occjasionly urged thereto by the mocusin of the young man behind him. On reaching the lower hall, however, he endeavoured to create a diversion in his favour by dashing into the barroom and clapping the occupants on the back with indiscriminate playfulness. But here again ho seemed to be disappointed. To his great discomfiture, a large man not only returned his salutation with powerful levity, but witli equal playfulness seized him in his arms, and after an ingenious simulation of depositing him in the horse-trough, set him down in affected amazement. "Bleth't if I didn't think from the weight of your hand it wath my old friend Thacrainento Hill," said Curson apologetically, with a wink at the bystander.--. That'th the way Bill alwayth uthed to tackle hith friendth, till he wath one day bounthed by a prithe lighter in Frithco, whom he'd mithtaked

for a mithionary." As Mr Curson'a reputa tion was of a. quality that made any form of apology from him instantly acceptable, the amused spectators made way for him as, recognising Low, who was just leaving the hotel, he turned coolly from them and walked toward him.

" Halloo !" he said, extending his hand. " You're the man I'm waiting for. Did you get a book from the Exthpreth Ottitho lath night ?"

"I did. Why;" " It'th nil right. Ath I'm rethponthible for it I only wanted to know."

" Did you <?end it ?" asked Low, quickly fixing his eyes on his face. "Well, not exactly me. But it'th not worth making a mythtery of it. Teretha gave me a commithion to buy it and tliend it to you anonymouthly. That'th a woman'th nonthenth, for how could thee tret a retheipt for it?"

"Then it was her present," said Low gloomily. "Of courthe. It wathn't mine, my boy. I'd have thent you a Tharp'th rille in plathe of that inuthio loader you carry, or tliomething thenthible. But, I thay ! what'th up ? You look ath if you had been running all night." Low grasped his hand. "Thank you/ he said hurriedly ; " but it's nothing. Only I must be back to the Woods early. Good bye."

But Curson retained Low's hand in his own powerful grip. "I'll go with you a bit further," he said. " In fact, I've got tliomething to thay to you ; only don't be in thuch a hurry ; the woodth can wait till you get there." Quietly, compelling Low to alter his own characteristic Indian stride to keep pace with his, he went on : -'I don't mind thay mg I rather cottoned to you from the time you acted like a white man—no offentho— to Teretha. Thee thayth you were left when a child lying round, juth ath promith ciiouthly ath the wath ; and if I can do any thing towardtli putting you on the trail of your people, I'll do it. I know thome of tho voyaycurth who traded with the Cliero keeth, and your father wath one—wathn't he ? He glauoed at Low'sutterly abstracted and immobile face, "I thay, you don't theem to take a hand in thith game par diier. What'th the row? Ith anything wrong over there 1" and he pointed to the Caj-quinez Woods, which were just tower ing out of the morning horizon in the dis tance.

Low stopped. The last words of his com panion seemed to recall him to himself. He raised his eyes automatically to the woods and started.

"Tlicvo is something wrong ovev there " ho .-aid breathlessly. " Look !" " I thoe nothing," said Carson, beginning to duulit Low's sanity ; "nothing more than I thaw an hour ago." '• Look again. Don't you see that smoke rising .--tiaightiip? It isn't blown over from the Divide ; its new smoke ! The tire is in the woods !" " i reckon thnt'th tho," muttered Curson, shading Ilia eyas with his hand. "But, liullo ! wait a minute ! We'll get hortheth. 1 thoy"—-he started, forgetting hie hip in his excitement—" stop I" But Low had already lowered his head and darted forward like an arrow.

In a few_ moments he had left not only hid companion, but the last straggling houses of tlio outskirts far behind him, and had .struck out io a long swinging trot for the disused "cut olf." Already lie fancied he heard the note of clamour in Indian Spring, and thought he distinguished the sound of hurrying hoofs on the great highway. But the sunken trail hid it from his view. From the col v inn of smoke now plainly visible in the growing morning light he tried to locate the scene of the conflagration. It was evidently not a fire advancing regularly from th'j outer skirt of the wood, communi cated to it from the Divide ; it was a local outburst near itn centre. It was not in the direction of his cabin in the tree. There was no immediate danger to Teresa, unless lear drove her beyond the contines of the wood into the hands of those who might recognise her. The screaming of jays and ravens above his head quickened his speed, :i« it heralded the rapid advance of the ilaines ; and the unexpected apparition of a bounding body, flattened and (tying over the yellow plain, toid him that even the secure retreat, of tlje mountain wildcat had been invaded. A sudden recollection of Teresa's uncontrollable terror that first night .smote him with Klloree and redoubled his efforts. Alone in the track of these frantic and re doubled beads, to what madness might she not bo driven ! The sharp crack of a rifle from the high road turned his course momentarily in that direction. 'Ihe smoke was curling lazily over the heads of a party of men in the road, while the huge bulk of a grizzly was dis appearing in ;ho distance. A battue of the escaping aninals had commenced. In the bitterness of his heart ho caught at the horrible suggjstion, and resolved to save her from then or die with her there. How fast 115 ran, or the time it took him to reach the Toodu, has never been known. Their outlines were already hidden when he entered their. To a sense less keen, a courage less desperate, and a purpose less unaltered thai Low's, the wood would have been impenetrable. The central tiro was .still coniined ;o the lofty tree tops, but the downward nuh of wind from time to time drove the smote into the aisles in blinding and suffoeatinj volumes. To simulate the creeping aniinils, and fall to the ground on hands and kne<s, feel his way through the underbrush wlen the smoke was densest, or take advantage of its momentary lifting, and without uncertainty, mistake, or hesita tion glide from \ree to tree in one underiat ing course, wai possible only to an ex perienced woodman. To keep his reagon I and insight so dear as to be able in the ' midst of this bewildering confusion to shape that course so as to intersect the wild and unknown track of an inexperienced, frightened wanderer, belonged to Low, ;md Low alone. He was making his way against the wind toward the fire. He had reasoned that she was either in comparative safety to windward of it, or he should meet her being driven toward him by it, or rind her succumbed and fainting at his feet. To do this he must penetrate the burning belt, and then pass uider the blazing dome, lie was already upoi.it : he could see the falling lire dripping Ike rain or blown like gorgeous blossoms ,of the conflagration across his path. The space was "lit up brilliantly. The vasi shafts of dull copper cast no shadow beloy, but there was no sign or token of anyhuman being. For a moment the young nau was at fault. It was true this hidden leart of the forest bore no undergrowth; thi cool matted carpet of the aisles seemed ti quench the gloving fragments as they fdl. Escape might be difiicult, but not inpossible; yet every moment was precious He leaned against a tree and sent his voice like a clarion before him: "Teresa!" Thjre wag no reply. He called again. A faimcry at his back from the trail he had just traversed made him I turn. Only a few pace behind him, blinded and staggering, but following him like a beaten and wounded aiiinal, Teresa halted, knelt, clasped her hatds, and dumbly held them out before her. f Teresa I" he cried again, and sprang to ler side. She caught him by lie knees, and lifted her face imploringly t> his. "Say that again !' she cried, passion ately. " Tell me it wa Teresa you called, , and no other! You have come back for ! me ! You would not la me die here alone I" He lifted her tendeiy in his arras and cast a rapid glance aroind him. It might have been his fancy, but there seemed a dull glow in the direcion he had come. "You do not speak!" she said. "Tell me ! You did not cons here to seek her?" " Whom ?" he said.quickly. "Nellie!" With a sharp cry le let her slip to the ground. All the pert-up agony, rage, and inortitication of the list hour broke from him in that inarticulate uitbui st. Then, catch ing her hands again he dragged her to his level. "Hear me," he <rii-d. disregarding the whirling smoke andthe n\ ry baptism that sprinkled them—" Sear me. If you value your life, if y<u value your soul, and if you di not want me to cast you to the beasts like Jezebel of old, never—never Jake that accursed name again upon your lips. Seek her —her f" Yes ! Seek her U tie her like a witch's daughter of hell t< that blazing tree !" He stopped. "Forjjve me," he said in a changed voice ; 'I'm mad, and forgetting myself and you. Come." Without noticiig the expression of half savage delight tlat had passed across her face, he lifted net in his arms. "Which way ac you going ?" she asked, passing her han<B vaguely across his breast, as if to reassure ierseif of his identity. "To our campby the scarred tree," he replied. i ' ' "Not there, tot there," she said, hur riedly ; " I was Iriven from there just now. I thought the fie began there until I came here." Then it was s he had feared. Obeying the same mysteious law that had launched this fateful fire ike a thunderbolt from the burning mountan crest five miles away into the heart of thi Carquinez Woods, it had again leaped a dile beyond, and was hem ming them betwen two narrowing lines of tire. Uut Low vas not daunted. Retracing his steps throujh the blinding smoke, he strode off at rigit angles to the trail near which he had eitered the wood. It was the spot where le had first lifted Nellie in his arms to carir her to the hidden spring. If any recollectin of it crossed his mind at that moment, itwas only shown in his re doubled energy. He did not glide through the thick underlrush as on that day, but seemed to take asavage pleasure in break ing through it wth sheer brute force. Once Teresa insisted lpon relieving him of the burden of her wdght, but after a few steps *he staggered ilindly against him, and Wjuld feign havi recourse once move to his

strong firms. AmuT^itT^s^ hidden spring. T!,<-,^ V W,h fallen tn?eaSo,l' T^*<? and the drifting . , I ' rier *■> tffj* spring spu-kld andbSS I"" 1 V M translucent ~!,■. ; S' ud •» tJ> the water and !,,thei , h f Cr <fe As he did poliis „ li( . k .f. •** andH* J. woman's linn, k^.| l t. f }' c i caßßl't*S the disrupted rc^ ? I} n'W%£* hands he'wlkSdtowJd H^A oeof hi 3moccasin^ ,ancU it S smile. you? *c asked * Something in hpi- m n , looked into her fa o .'fc 11'"^ ' tokened; the beautifuhX'if ."I see you a little now I «,• ~ said with a smile, pa s i n l t" k'" 4 vaguely over his face. «f t m M happened when l, e f ainted " B»*^ d»K him through the blaring fii >nyhand,,e ref ul,, ail dlc SouTis "Dunn! Hehere'"«nMT i '• Tell mo quickly !" "Xo." "Then you were not there H, didn't leave me to die?" xneie—then m rtoickn that hHKriSi lS? lf'* trSSeihi^^;^ hcrl^ntf'ea^boK^ there and tell me all." D °"tmOT«;«., With her face buried in his bn.™.' ' speaking to his heart alone «hT?V 8 part, but not all With L Wlll «> -th tears, butasmilerWiM w,th new-found happiness, e h '» how she had overheard the plan., o [^ and Brace, and how she hid stolen? conveyance to warn him in S here she stopped, dreading to say, w that would shatter the ho^ she^sb? .ng upon his sudden revulsion of feS Nelhe. She could not bring h ei X repeat their interview-that would Jl later, when they were «fa and oS danger; now, not even the «art?, birth must come between thml^ distraction to mar their perfect cLI ■ She faltered that DunaTaffffli «eakneM, and that she had diZdfc ou of danger. "He will never X with u ? -I mean," she said softly 2 *le.?? a'?- , Ican Proniise you thaUrt as if he had sworn it." ""mini

"Let him pass now," said Low: "ty will come later on," he added, J? jciously repeating her thought LuJ that made her heart sick. "Butten!, Teresa why did you go to Excelsior!"^ She buried her head still deeper mill, hide it He felt her broken heart k against Ins own; he was conscious]; depth of feeling her rival had i awakened in him. The possibility? Teresa loving him had never occuil his simple nature. He bent his head i-J kissed her. She was frightened, anda loosed her clinging arms, but he retiW her hand, and said: "We will leave tlk accursed place, and you shall go wife as you said you would; nor need yoa w leave me, unless you wish it." She could hear the beuting of her on heart through his words; she leased to look at the eyes and lips that told hertk and read the meaning his voice alonedii not entirely convey. For the firsttimsilK felt the loss of her sight. She did a* know that it was, in this moment of linj. ness, the last blessing vouchsafed to fc miserable life. A few moments of silence follow! broken only by the distant roar of the m flagration and the crash of falling tot* "It may be an hour yet," he whimest " before the fire has swept a path fotub the road below. We are safe hero, ah some sudden current should draw &fa down upon us. You are not frightoajf She pressed his hand; she was thutiij of the pale face of Dunn, lying in the sew retreat she had purchased for him at ratki sacrifice. Yet the possibility of dangerto rim now for a moment marred her pment happiness and security. "You think tie fire will not go north of where you foul me ?" she asked softly. ■ "I think not," he said; "but Iwilltt onnoitre. Stay where you are." They pressed hands and parted, ft leaped vp >n theslanting trunkandascended rapidly. She waited in mute expectation. There was a sudden movement of thereof on which she sat, a deafening crash, tod she was thrown forward on her face. B» vast bulk of the leaning tree, dislodged from its aeriel support by the gradual «»• ping of the spring at its roots, or bytfo crumbling of the bark from the heat, had slipped, made a half revolution, and falling, overbore the lesser trees in its path, id tore in its resistless momentum a broad open ing to the undertrush.

With a cry to Low, Teresa staggered to her feet. There was an interval ofhideoo silence, but no reply. She called ana. There was a sudden deepening roar, theotat of a fiery furnace swept through the op ing, a thousand luminous points aroundhtr burst into fire, and in an instant she TO lost in a whirlwind of smoke and flame! From the onset of its fury to its cultniM tion, twenty minutes did not elapse; but in that interval a radius of two hundwl yards around the hidden spring was swept of life and light and motion, ..■■': For the rest of that day and part of,tie night a pall of smoke hung above theecetta of desolation. It lifted only toward* tbe morning, when the moon, riding ihigb) picked out in black and silver the shranka and silent columns of those roofless TBultt, shorn of base and capital. It flickered* the still, overflowing pool of the hidden spring, and shone upon the white: faoeof Low, who, with a rootlef} of the fallentoe holding him down like an arm across ki» breast, seemed to be sleeping peacefully ft. the sleeping water.

Contemporaneous history touched himU briefly, but not as gently. "Itis Mf definitely ascertained," said the "Sto gullion Mirror," " that Sheriff Dunn tut his fate in the Carquinez Woods in the per formance of his duty, that fearless n* having received information of the conceal' ment of a band of horse thieves in their recesses. The desperadoes are presumed to have escaped, as the only remain! found are those of two wretched tratupi. one of whom is said to have been a digger, who supported himself upon roots and herbs, and the other a degraded half-white woman. It is not unreasonable to suppose that the fire originated through their care lessness, although Father Wynne, of the First Baptist Church, in his powerful dis

STAR SATURDAY SUPPLEMENT, DECEMBER 29, 1883.

2