ots; but Herrets, here--"

"Ah, then he can meet me," cried Delvin, eagerly.

"By no means," replied Fred, with great distinctness; "you have injured
him sufficiently already, and it appears to me strange that the world
should think a husband bound to demand reparation by receiving the
contents of a pistol, and then consider that satisfaction has been
accorded."

"Then you deny me a chance to satisfy the husband of this woman?"
demanded Delvin, and his looks showed how eagerly he would have shot
Herrets had he been allowed.

"Certainly we do, and we have a piece of advice to give you--don't
return to Ballarat for a few months, or you might fare badly. The miners
have a prejudice against people who run off with wives not belonging to
them, and but little agitation would be necessary to serve you as men of
your kind are served in California."

"May I ask now that is?" Delvin inquired.

"They are tried by Lynch law," was Fred's laconic answer.

The seducer glared at us as though he would like to encounter each
individual singly, and I did not, know but that he would charge upon us,
and risk the odds, great as they were.

"What have I done, Mary Ann, that you should run off and leave me?"
cried Herrets, speaking for the first time.

His wife maintained a profound silence.

"Didn't I do all that I could to make you happy and comfortable?" he
continued.

"No," she replied, with a defiant air, "you did not. You never spoke to
me kindly, or asked if I was contented. I went to your tent with but
little love for you, and now I have less. Did you seek to gain my
affections, or to banish from my mind the image of a man that I felt I
could die for?"

She looked hard at Fred, but the latter avoided her glance.

"I may have to go back with you, but I warn you that I feel only
loathing and contempt for your home, for you, and every one in
Ballarat."

We did not seek to check her, for we knew that her outburst of rage
would end in tears, and we were not mistaken. She wept bitterly, and
upbraided Fred and myself as the authors of her misfortunes; and even
while she was lamenting her fate, we turned her horse's head in the
direction of Ballarat.

Her paramour sat upon his animal sullen, and undecided what to do; and
without stopping to exchange words with him, we commenced our journey
homeward.

Even after we were miles distant, we could see him still motionless,
standing upon the broad prairie, as though he had not