he fought the frantic
beasts back to a moaning standstill. Then pail by pail he fed them the
water until the danger of overdrinking was past. He parted the curtains.
In spite of the noise outside the woman, soothed by the breath of cooler
air, had fallen asleep.

Some time later he again parted the curtains.

"We're here, honey," he said, "good water, good grass, shade. The desert
is past. Wake up and take a little coffee."

She smiled at him.

"I'm so tired."

"We're going to rest here a spell."

She drank the coffee, ate some of the food he brought her, thrust back
her hair, breathed deep of the cooling night.

"Where's Jim?" she asked at last.

"Jim got very tired," he said, "Jim's asleep."

* * * * *

Three months later. The western slant of the Sierras just where the
canon clefts begin to spread into foothills. On a flat near--too
near--the stream-bed was a typical placer-mining camp of the day. That
is, three or four large, rough buildings in a row, twenty or thirty log
cabins scattered without order, and as many tents.

The whole population was gathered interestedly in the largest structure,
which was primarily a dance hall. Ninety-five per cent. were men, of
whom the majority were young men. A year ago the percentage would have
been nearer one hundred, but now a certain small coterie of women had
drifted in, most of them with a keen eye for prosperity. The red or blue
shirt, the nondescript hat, and the high, mud-caked boots of the miner
preponderated. Here and there in the crowd, however, stood a man dressed
in the height of fashion. There seemed no middle ground. These latter
were either the professional gamblers, the lawyers, or the promoters.

A trial was in progress, to which all paid deep attention. Two men
disputed the ownership of a certain claim. Their causes were represented
by ornate individuals whose evident zest in the legal battle was not
measured by prospective fees. Nowhere in the domain and at no time in
the history of the law has technicality been so valued, has the game of
the courts possessed such intellectual interest, has substantial
justice been so uncertain as in the California of the early 'fifties.
The lawyer could spread himself unhampered; and these were so doing.

In the height of the proceedings a man entered from outside and took his
position leaning against the rail of the jury box. That he was a
stranger was evident from the glances