hem ez is goin' to help me tackle that tree, trot down! I
reckon that blitherin' idiot" (the stranger with the lantern, who had
disappeared) "will have sense enough to fetch us some ropes with his
darned axe."

The passengers thus addressed, apparently miners and workingmen, good
humoredly descended, all except one, who seemed disinclined to leave the
much coveted seat on the box beside the driver.

"I'll look after your places and keep my own," he said, with a laugh,
as the others followed Bill through the dripping rain. When they had
disappeared, the young journalist turned to the lady.

"If you would really like to go to that house, I will gladly accompany
you." It was possible that in addition to his youthful chivalry there
was a little youthful resentment of Yuba Bill's domineering prejudices
in his attitude. However, the quiet, observant passenger lifted a look
of approval to him, and added, in his previous level, half contemptuous
tone:--

"You'll be quite as well there as here, madam, and there is certainly no
reason for your stopping in the coach when the driver chooses to leave
it."

The passengers looked at each other. The stranger spoke with authority,
and Bill had certainly been a little arbitrary!

"I'll go too," said the passenger by the window. "And you'll come, won't
you, Ned?" he added to the express messenger. The young man hesitated;
he was recently appointed, and as yet fresh to the business--but he
was not to be taught his duty by an officious stranger! He resented the
interference youthfully by doing the very thing he would have preferred
NOT to do, and with assumed carelessness--yet feeling in his pocket to
assure himself that the key of the treasure compartment was safe--turned
to follow them.

"Won't YOU come too?" said the journalist, politely addressing the
cynical passenger.

"No, I thank you! I'll take charge of the coach," was the smiling
rejoinder, as he settled himself more comfortably in his seat.

The little procession moved away in silence. Oddly enough, no one,
except the lady, really cared to go, and two--the expressman and
journalist--would have preferred to remain on the coach. But the
national instinct of questioning any purely arbitrary authority probably
was a sufficient impulse. As they neared the opened door of what
appeared to be a four-roomed, unpainted, redwood boarded cabin, the
passenger who had occupied the seat near the window said,--

"I'll go first and s