eved at this unexpected phase of affairs. However, when he
found that Judge Wells, instead of attempting to return to the valley
that night, proposed to pass the night at a ranch only a few miles
from the Cahuilla village, he became almost hysterical with fright.
He declared that the Cahuillas would surely come and murder him in the
night, and begged piteously that the men would all stay with him to
guard him.

At midnight Judge Wells was roused by the arrival of the Capitan and
head men of the Cahuilla village. They had heard of his arrival with his
jury, and they had come to lead them to their village, where the body of
the murdered man lay. They were greatly distressed on learning that they
ought not to have removed the body from the spot where the death had
taken place, and that now no inquest could be held.

Judge Wells himself, however, went back with them, saw the body, and
heard the full account of the murder as given by Ramona on her first
arrival. Nothing more could now be learned from her, as she was in high
fever and delirium; knew no one, not even her baby when they laid it
on her breast. She lay restlessly tossing from side to side, talking
incessantly, clasping her rosary in her hands, and constantly mingling
snatches of prayers with cries for Alessandro and Felipe; the only token
of consciousness she gave was to clutch the rosary wildly, and sometimes
hide it in her bosom, if they attempted to take it from her.

Judge Wells was a frontiersman, and by no means sentimentally inclined;
but the tears stood in his eyes as he looked at the unconscious Ramona.

Farrar had pleaded that the preliminary hearing might take place
immediately; but after this visit to the village, the judge refused his
request, and appointed the trial a week from that day, to give time
for Ramona to recover, and appear as a witness. He impressed upon the
Indians as strongly as he could the importance of having her appear. It
was evident that Farrar's account of the affair was false from first to
last. Alessandro had no knife. He had not had time to go many steps from
the door; the volley of oaths, and the two shots almost simultaneously,
were what Ramona heard as she ran to the door. Alessandro could not have
spoken many words.

The day for the hearing came. Farrar had been, during the interval, in a
merely nominal custody; having been allowed to go about his business,
on his own personal guarantee of appearing in time for the tri