reflected in a sheet of dark silent water that stretched between it and
the two men. Wading and splashing, they soon reached it, and a gully
where the surplus water was pouring into the valley below. "Fower feet
o' water round her, but can't get any higher. So ye see she's all right
for a month o' sich weather." Inwardly admiring the perspicacity of his
companion, Jeff was about to open the coach door when Bill interrupted.

"I'll pack the old woman, if you'll look arter the darter and enny
little traps."

A female face, anxious and elderly, here appeared at the window.

"Thet's my little game," said Bill, sotto voce.

"Is there any danger? where is my husband?" asked the woman impatiently.

"Ez to the danger, ma'am,--thar ain't any. Yer ez safe HERE ez ye'd be
in a Sacramento steamer; ez to your husband, he allowed I was to come
yer and fetch yer up to the hotel. That's his look-out!" With this
cheering speech, Bill proceeded to make two or three ineffectual scoops
into the dark interior, manifestly with the idea of scooping out the
lady in question. In another instant he had caught her, lifted her
gently but firmly in his arms, and was turning away.

"But my child!--my daughter! she's asleep!"--expostulated the woman; but
Bill was already swiftly splashing through the darkness. Jeff, left to
himself, hastily examined the coach: on the back seat a slight small
figure, enveloped in a shawl, lay motionless. Jeff threw the bear-skin
over it gently, lifted it on one arm, and gathering a few travelling
bags and baskets with the other, prepared to follow his quickly