understood that there had been a lynching and that the corpse had been
brought there and hung in front of her husband's bedroom window, where
his first waking glance would fall upon it, as a sign of how public
opinion regarded his ideas and intentions on the subject of lynch law.
She saw that it was intended as a warning and a contemptuous defiance,
and her spirit rose high in righteous wrath. She knew well that this
event presaged for the Governor trouble and humiliation, and probably,
if a conflict were precipitated at once, an early defeat, and she
quickly decided that he must not see the body or know what had
happened. But what could she do with it?

Then an idea occurred to her and she smiled and said to herself that it
was impossible. But it seemed such a good idea, and it pleased her so
much, that she kept on thinking about it. Presently she assured
herself that her husband was still sleeping quietly; then she put on
some clothes, and, laughing softly, went out on the _portal_.

The man who had been the leader in the affair that night, and whom Mrs.
Coolidge had recognized, was awakened early the next morning by the
sound of voices in front of his house. It was barely dawn, but already
a little group of Mexicans were staring at his door and talking with
much excitement. Wondering what it could mean he hastily dressed
himself and went out. As he opened the front door he ran into the body
of the man, swinging above his own threshold, which he had left a few
hours before hanging at the Governor's window.

"My jaw dropped and I shut the door mighty quick, when I saw that," he
told me, with a reminiscent, amused chuckle at himself. "I knew in a
second that the Governor was onto us, that he must have seen us in
front of his window, and that it was up to me to do some lively pullin'