Three Pines, Chapters XI-XII [pp. 49-58]

Three Pines.
tion at all, it was that by the faint glimmer of the cigar his small black eyes
seemed to peer forward into space with
a keener and more concentrated gaze,
and from its position in the mouth his
lips were drawn into a still more cynical
sneer.
XII.
"I HAVE done all I could," I muttered;
and now gaining my tent, I relieved
the patient guardian of poor Howard,
and stretched myself out for sleep
in front. When the first gray indications of dawn appeared, I sprang again
to my feet. Perhaps with my troubled
thoughts I had not slept at all; at the
most it was an incomplete and uneasy
slumber. Again finding another person
to keep watch over the tent in my
enforced absence, I saddled my horse,
and rode across to the tent that had been
given up to Clare and her father.
They were not yet out, though I could
hear them stirring inside. At a little
distance was the covered wagon, and a
few feet further, where there had been
the best promise of grass, the six oxen
lay crouched in a fast sleep. The teamster, too, had not yet awakened, and it
was with some little difficulty that I
could get him upon his feet. The man,
being still sleepy, was cross, and grumbled at that early arousing.
"And they say there is a man to be
hung this morning. Why not wait
a while and see it?"
"Because, my good fellow, it is not a
thing for this young lady who is with you
to see or even hear about. Take this,"
producing a half doubloon, "and stir
about as quickly as you can. If you stay
long enough in California, you will have
an opportunity to attend enough amusements of this kind, I think."
Now at last fully awake and at heart
a good-natured fellow, and stimulated
doubtless in due proportion by the gold
piece, the teamster flung himself around
in very lively manner, and soon had the
oxen coupled and attached in front of
the wagon. By this time the Doctor
and Clare had appeared, and after such
slight preparation in food as we could
command, we started. It was much
lighter now, for the sun was rising.
Spite of all our energy, it had taken
time to get everything in readiness, and
to my fevered anxiety we were on the
road not a moment too early. Looking
back I could see that the miners were
promptly emerging from their tents,
and hereand there gathering intogroups,
and it was plainly evident that the tragedy of the day was soon to be enacted.
It had been a long slant down the
hill to the mine the evening before,
the valley lying low, and the main road
to Stockton running along the edge of
the cliff above. This slant had now to be
retraced, and it was a slow and somewhat wearisome process. Our party
arranged itself by happy chance just as
I would have disposed it. The Doctor,
so weary with long travel as not to care
about putting himself in the way of conversation, let his horse fall behind, and
the teamster naturally preferred to remain on foot for better government of
his oxen, at least until the first difficulties of the road were over and the party
fairly on its route. Clare of course sat
in her usual place in front of the wagon;
and I, riding at her left hand, could easily talk with her, even in a low tone.
For a while there was silence between
us. Clare sat with her face bent down,
and I could see that during the night
she must have suffered. I had expected
this; I had already told her enough to
awaken her apprehensions of evil, and it
was best that it should be so. Let her
forbode the worst, and it would simply
prepare her for what further I had to
say. I would conceal half the truth, and
in some garbled form tell her only that
her husband was dead.
Even this would be hard to do, I
thought, and perhaps would too deeply
move her. But already her imagination
54
[Jan.