it, a little shamefacedly. The grotesque blunder of being taken as
a fugitive from justice relieved Clarence's mind from its acute
tension,--he was momentarily diverted,--and it was not until the
boatman had departed, and he was again alone, that it seemed to have any
collateral significance. Then an uneasy recollection of Susy's threat
that she had the power to put his wife in Fort Alcatraz came across him.
Could she have already warned the municipal authorities and this man?
But he quickly remembered that any action from such a warning could
only have been taken by the United States Marshal, and not by a civic
official, and dismissed the idea.

Nevertheless, when the stage with its half-spent lamps still burning
dimly against the morning light swept round the curve and rolled heavily
up to the rude shanty which served as coach-office, he became watchful.
A single yawning individual in its doorway received a few letters and
parcels, but Clarence was evidently the ONLY waiting passenger. Any hope
that he might have entertained that his mysterious predecessor would
emerge from some seclusion at that moment was disappointed. As he
entered the coach he made a rapid survey of his fellow-travelers, but
satisfied himself that the stranger was not among them. They were
mainly small traders or farmers, a miner or two, and apparently
a Spanish-American of better degree and personality. Possibly the
circumstance that men of this class usually preferred to travel on
horseback and were rarely seen in public conveyances attracted his
attention, and their eyes met more than once in mutual curiosity.
Presently Clarence addressed a remark to the stranger in Spanish; he
replied fluently and courteously, but at the next stopping-place he
asked a question of the expressman in an unmistakable Missouri accent.
Clarence's curiosity was satisfied; he was evidently one of those early
American settlers who had been so long domiciled in Southern California