two men when work was over, and there was a chance of their being
thrown together. Once or twice she had remained up late to meet Miguel
returning from the posada at San Ramon, filled with aguardiente and a
recollection of his wrongs, and to see him safely bestowed before she
herself retired. It was on one of those occasions, however, that she
learned that Dick Shipley, hearing that Miguel had disparaged him freely
at the posada, had broken the discipline of the ranch, and absented
himself the same night that Miguel "had leave," with a view of facing
his antagonist on his own ground. To prevent this, the fearless girl at
once secretly set out alone to overtake and bring back the delinquent.

For two or three hours the house was thus left to the sole occupancy of
Mr. and Mrs. Forsyth and the invalid--a fact only dimly suspected by the
latter, who had become vaguely conscious of Josephine's anxiety, and had
noticed the absence of light and movement in her room. For this reason,
therefore, having risen again and mechanically taken his seat in the
porch to await her return, he was startled by hearing HER voice in the
shadow of the lower porch, accompanied by a hurried tapping against the
door of the old couple. The half-reasoning man arose, and would have
moved towards it, but suddenly he stopped rigidly, with white and parted
lips and vacantly distended eyeballs.

Meantime the voice and muffled tapping had brought the tremulous fingers
of old Forsyth to the door-latch. He opened the door partly; a slight
figure that had been lurking in the shadow of the porch pushed rapidly
through the opening. There was a faint outcry quickly hushed, and the
door closed again. The rays of a single candle showed the two old people
hysterically clasping in their arms the figure that had entered--a
slight but vicious-looking young fellow of five-and-twenty.