ll
flood of its tide, and here, standing before her, was the embodiment
of all her natural, if baser, ideals.

The man was a handsome, picturesque creature bred on lines of the
purer strains. He had little enough about him of the rough camp in
which she lived. He brought with him an atmosphere of cities, an
atmosphere she yearned for. It was in his dress, in his speech, in the
bold daring of his handsome eyes. She saw in his face the high
breeding of an ancient lineage. There was such a refinement in the
delicate chiseling of his well-molded features. His brows were widely
expressive of a strong intellect. His nose possessed that wonderful
aquilinity associated with the highest type of Indian. His cheeks were
smooth, and of a delicacy which threw into relief the perfect model of
the frame beneath them. His clean-shaven mouth and chin suggested all
that which a woman most desires to behold in a man. His figure was
tall and muscular, straight-limbed and spare; while in his glowing
eyes shone an irresistible courage, a fire of passion, and such a
purpose as few women could withstand. And so the wife of Scipio
admitted her defeat and yielded the play of all her puny arts, that
she might appear sightly in his eyes.

But she only saw him as he wished her to see him. He showed her the
outward man. The inner man was something not yet for her to probe. He
was one of Nature's anachronisms. She had covered a spirit which was
of the hideous stock from which he sprang with a gilding of
superlative manhood.

His name was James, a name which, in years long past, the Western
world of America had learned to hate with a bitterness rarely equaled.
But all that was almost forgotten, and this man, by reason of his
manner, which was genial, open-handed, even somewhat magnificent,
rarely failed, at first, to obtain the good-will of those with whom he
came into contact.

It was nearly nine months since he first appeared on Suffering Creek.
Apparently he had just drifted there in much the same way that most of
the miners had drifted, possibly drawn thither out of curiosity at the
reports of the gold strike. So unobtrusive had been his coming that
even in that small community he at first passed almost unobserved. Yet
he was full of interest in the place, and contrived to learn much of
its affairs and prospects. Having acquired all the information he
desired, he suddenly set out to make himself popular. And his
popularity was brought about