dress and lawless aspect, provoked a marked degree of respect from those
he met--in which, perhaps, a wholesome fear was mingled. It is certain
that the two best places in the stage were given up to them without
protest, and that a careless, almost supercilious invitation to drink
from Flynn was responded to with singular alacrity by all, including
even two fastidiously dressed and previously reserved passengers. I
am afraid that Clarence enjoyed this proof of his friend's singular
dominance with a boyish pride, and, conscious of the curious eyes of the
passengers, directed occasionally to himself, was somewhat ostentatious
in his familiarity with this bearded autocrat.

At noon the next day they left the stage at a wayside road station, and
Flynn briefly informed Clarence that they must again take horses. This
at first seemed difficult in that out-of-the-way settlement, where
they alone had stopped, but a whisper from the driver in the ear of
the station-master produced a couple of fiery mustangs, with the same
accompaniment of cautious awe and mystery. For the next two days they
traveled on horseback, resting by night at the lodgings of one or other
of Flynn's friends in the outskirts of a large town, where they arrived
in the darkness, and left before day. To any one more experienced
than the simple-minded boy it would have been evident that Flynn was
purposely avoiding the more traveled roads and conveyances; and when
they changed horses again the next day's ride was through an apparently
unbroken wilderness of scattered wood and rolling plain. Yet to
Clarence, with his pantheistic reliance and joyous sympathy with nature,
the change was filled with exhilarating pleasure. The vast seas of
tossing wild oats, the hillside still variegated with strange flowers,
the virgin freshness of untrodden woods and leafy aisles, whose floors
of moss or bark were undisturbed by human footprint, were a keen delight
and novelty. More than this, his quick eye, trained perceptions, and