him to the house; nor, having alarmed his daughters, could he
abandon his helplessness to their feeble arms. He remembered that
his horse was still tied to the garden fence. He would fetch it,
and carry the unfortunate man across the saddle to the gate. He
lifted him with difficulty to the boulder, and ran rapidly up the
road in the direction of his tethered steed. He had not proceeded
far when he heard the noise of wheels behind him. It was the up
stage coming furiously along. He would have called to the driver
for assistance, but even through that fast-sweeping cloud of dust
and motion he could see that the man was utterly oblivious of
anything but the speed of his rushing chariot, and had even risen
in his box to lash the infuriated and frightened animals forward.

An hour later, when the coach drew up at the Red Dog Hotel, the
driver descended from the box, white, but taciturn. When he had
swallowed a glass of whiskey at a single gulp, he turned to the
astonished express agent, who had followed him in.

"One of two things, Jim, hez got to happen," he said, huskily.
"Either that there rock hez got to get off the road, or I have.
I've seed HIM on it agin!"


CHAPTER IV


No further particulars of the invalid's second attack were known
than those furnished by Don Caesar's brief statement, that he had
found him lying insensible on the boulder. This seemed perfectly
consistent with the theory of Dr. Duchesne; and as the young