t
marriage with Nellie or the speedy death of several people, including
possibly himself, was the only alternative. He regretted he had not
accompanied her; he regretted he had not demanded where she was going;
he contemplated a course of future action that two hours ago would
have filled him with bashful terror. There was clearly but one thing to
do--to declare his passion the instant he met her, and return with her
to Excelsior an accepted suitor, or not to return at all.

Suddenly he was vexatiously conscious of hearing his name lazily called,
and looking up found that he was on the outskirts of the town, and
interrogated by two horsemen.

"Got down to walk, and the coach got away from you, Jack, eh?"

A little ashamed of his preoccupation, Brace stammered something about
"collections." He did not recognize the men, but his own face, name,
and business were familiar to everybody for fifty miles along the
stage-road.

"Well, you can settle a bet for us, I reckon. Bill Dacre thar bet me
five dollars and the drinks that a young gal we met at the edge of the
Carquinez Woods, dressed in a long brown duster and half muffled up in a
hood, was the daughter of Father Wynn of Excelsior. I did not get a fair
look at her, but it stands to reason that a high-toned young lady like
Nellie Wynn don't go trap'sing along the wood like a Pike County tramp.
I took the bet. May be you know if she's here or in Excelsior?"

Mr. Brace felt himself turning pale with eagerness and excitement. But
the near prospect of seeing her presently gave him back his caution, and
he answered truthfully that he had left her in Excelsior, and that in
his two hours' sojourn in Indian Spring he had not met her once. "But,"
he added, with a Californian's reverence for the sanctity of a bet, "I
reckon you'd better make it a stand-off for twenty-four hours, and I'll
find out and let you know." Which, it is only fair to say, he honestly
intended to do.

With a hurried nod of parting, he continued in the direction of the
Woods. When he had satisfied himself that the strangers had entered
the settlement, and would not follow him for further explanation,
he quickened his pace. In half an hour he passed between two of the
gigantic sentinels that guarded the entrance to a trail. Here he paused
to collect his thoughts. The Woods were vast in extent, the trail dim
and uncertain--at times apparently breaking off, or intersecting another
trail as faint as itself.