dollars! That's Jane's brat, all over! And, of course," he added,
bitterly, "nothing of ME in him. No; nothing! Well, well, what's
the difference?" He turned towards the door, with a certain sullen
defiance in his face so like the man he believed he did not
resemble, that his foreman, coming upon him suddenly, might have
been startled at the likeness. Fortunately, however, Harrison was
too much engrossed with the antics of the irrepressible Buckeye,
which the ostler had just brought to the door, to notice anything
else. The arrival of the horse changed the Doctor's expression to
one of more practical and significant resistance. With the
assistance of two men at the head of the restive brute, he managed
to vault into the saddle. A few wild plunges only seemed to settle
him the firmer in his seat--each plunge leaving its record in a
thin red line on the animal's flanks, made by the cruel spurs of
its rider. Any lingering desire of following his son's footsteps
was quickly dissipated by Buckeye, who promptly bolted in the
opposite direction, and, before Dr. West could gain active control
over him, they were half a mile on their way to La Mision Perdida.

Dr. West did not regret it. Twenty years ago he had voluntarily
abandoned a legal union of mutual unfaithfulness and misconduct,
and allowed his wife to get the divorce he might have obtained for
equal cause. He had abandoned to her the issue of that union--an
infant son. Whatever he chose to do now was purely gratuitous; the
only hold which this young stranger had on his respect was that HE
also recognized that fact with a cold indifference equal to his
own. At present the half-savage brute he bestrode occupied all his
attention. Yet he could not help feeling his advancing years tell
upon him more heavily that evening; fearless as he was, his
strength was no longer equal when measured with the untiring