and agile on sharp acclivities, Blue Lightning began to have ideas and
recollections! Ah! she was a devil for a lark--this lightly-clinging,
caressing, blarneying, cooing creature--up there! He remembered her now.
Ha! very well then. Hoop-la! And suddenly leaping out like a rabbit,
bucking, trotting hard, ambling lightly, "loping" on three legs and
recreating himself,--as only a California mustang could,--the invincible
Blue Lightning at last stood triumphantly upon the summit. The evening
star had just pricked itself through the golden mist of the horizon
line,--eight o'clock! She could do it now! But here, suddenly, her first
hesitation seized her. She knew her horse, she knew the trail, she knew
herself,--but did she know THE MAN to whom she was riding? A cold chill
crept over her, and then she shivered in a sudden blast; it was Night at
last swooping down from the now invisible Sierras, and possessing all it
touched. But it was only one long descent to Hickory Hill now, and she
swept down securely on its wings. Half-past eight! The lights of the
settlement were just ahead of her--but so, too, were the two lamps of
the waiting stage before the post-office and hotel.

Happily the lounging crowd were gathered around the hotel, and she
slipped into the post-office from the rear, unperceived. As she stepped
behind the partition, its only occupant--a good-looking young fellow
with a reddish mustache--turned towards her with a flush of delighted
surprise. But it changed at the sight of the white, determined face
and the brilliant eyes that had never looked once towards him, but were
fixed upon a large bag, whose yawning mouth was still open and propped
up beside his desk.

"Where is the through money letter that came in that bag?" she said
quickly.