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

Three Pines.
without a name, and far up among the
hills. There will be no one there now
at the place,for very little gold was found,
and so all the miners were preparing
to move from it. I doubt whether even
I could find my way there again, and
probably there is no longer any road to
it. But it was all very beautiful, -that
silver stream and the grand old trees
drooping their heads over it."
Ah, in what a maze of deceit I was
becoming involved far beyond what I
had anticipated, in this well-intentioned
plan of mine to bring some comfort to
her! But I determined that this portion
of my story should, in part at least, be
true. For her sake Rush Brackleyshould
have Christian burial at my hands in
some pleasant spot, and with a prayer
or two.
And now I must make an excuse to
leave her, lest the moment might come
when, under her questioning, my inventive powers should at last prove
insufficient. "Well, that is all, Clare.
I must return to the mine now, for I
have my duties there, and I must not
seem to be deserting my friends, who
may even now be looking for me. You
are on the high road, and cannot longer
need me. The way is straight before
you to the larger mines, and from thence
to Stockton."
"And shall we not see you again?"
"Perhaps never again, Clare. When
I go from here, it will be to sail at once
for home. You will probably never again
leave California, and who can say that
any chance will ever bring me back to
it?"
"Ah, Philip, my friend,- seeing you
again or not, how can I ever forget your
kindness? And you have made me almost happy. If I had been simply told
that Rush was dead, and nothing more,
it seems as though I must have gone
mourning to my grave. But now that I
know he thought so lovingly of me at
the last, how can I refrain from letting
the joy of it give me a little comfort and
resignation? Goodby, and I hope not
forever, Philip,- my true and steadfast
friend.
"Goodby, dear Clare."
It was true that I had given comfort
to her, and almost happiness, indeed. As
I pressed her hand in farewell, I could
see that amidst her tears her face had
brightened for the moment even into a
restoration of the cheeriness of years ago.
Then, without further words, I drew my
rein and let the wagon pass by me.
For awhile I remained there motionless, gazing down into the valley. That
broad valley, spread out at my feet in
such rich loveliness! Beautiful in its
mingling of hills and plain, of single oaks
dotting the openings, and forests of giant
pines climbing the slopes, of encompassing mountains white with snow, and
stealing through all, like a silver thread,
the pure, sparkling Stanislaus! Only
one blot now amid it all,-the spot where
in front of the three pines that dark
crowd stood motionless, waiting to carry
out God's judgment upon crime.
For a few moments I gazed as if transfixed upon it. Then at last there came
to the whole assemblage a sudden oscillation and uneasy swaying to and fro, as
though struck by a tempest blast, and
some began to retire to a little distance,
and others pressed still closer together;
but in the middle of all I could see that
there was a narrow space left, with only
three or four persons within it. And all
at once from this space a dark form rose
slowly in the air, and oscillating for a
moment, then hung motionless from the
lower bough of the largest of the pines.
There was a hush and seeming paralysis
in the crowd for a minute or two; and
then it began more widely to disperse
itself.
Then I too prepared to move away.
Looking around, I saw that the road at
my left was now nearly vacant; I could
just detect the white wagon-top disappearing in the distance over the oakstudded slope, and even as I gazed, it
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