father, a moment later, rubbed his eyes, and awoke from his sleep upon
the veranda, it was to see a goddess, erect and triumphant, striding
toward the house with the helpless body of a man lying across that
breast where man had never lain before,--a goddess, at whose imperious
mandate he arose, and cast open the doors before her. And then, when
she had laid her unconscious burden on the sofa, the goddess fled; and a
woman, helpless and trembling, stood before him,--a woman that cried out
that she had "killed him," that she was "wicked, wicked!" and that, even
saying so, staggered, and fell beside her late burden. And all that
Mr. McClosky could do was to feebly rub his beard, and say to himself
vaguely and incoherently, that "Jinny had fetched him."


CHAPTER II


Before noon the next day, it was generally believed throughout Four
Forks that Ridgeway Dent had been attacked and wounded at Chemisal Ridge
by a highwayman, who fled on the approach of the Wingdam coach. It is to
be presumed that this statement met with Ridgeway's approval, as he did
not contradict it, nor supplement it with any details. His wound was
severe, but not dangerous. After the first excitement had subsided,
there was, I think, a prevailing impression common to the provincial
mind, that his misfortune was the result of the defective moral quality
of his being a stranger, and was, in a vague sort of a way, a warning to
others, and a lesson to him. "Did you hear how that San Francisco feller
was took down the other night?" was the average tone of introductory
remark. Indeed, there was a general suggestion that Ridgeway's presence
was one that no self-respecting, high-minded highwayman, honorably
conservative of the best interests of Tuolumne County, could for a