Martinez."

In the dead silence that ensued--a silence so profound that we could
hear the horses in the distant stable-yard rattling their harness--one
of the younger "Excelsior" boys burst into a hysteric laugh, but the
fierce eye of Yuba Bill was down upon him, and seemed to instantly
stiffen him into a silent, grinning mask. The young girl, however,
took no note of it. Following out, with lover-like diffusiveness, the
reminiscences thus awakened, she went on:--

"Yes, it's mighty hard work, but he says it's all for me, and as soon as
we're married he'll quit it. He might have quit it before, but he won't
take no money of me, nor what I told him I could get out of dad! That
ain't his style. He's mighty proud--if he is poor--is Charley. Why
thar's all ma's money which she left me in the Savin's Bank that I
wanted to draw out--for I had the right--and give it to him, but he
wouldn't hear of it! Why, he wouldn't take one of the things I've got
with me, if he knew it. And so he goes on ridin' and ridin', here and
there and everywhere, and gettin' more and more played out and sad, and
thin and pale as a spirit, and always so uneasy about his business, and
startin' up at times when we're meetin' out in the South Woods or in the
far clearin', and sayin': 'I must be goin' now, Polly,' and yet always
tryin' to be chiffle and chipper afore me. Why he must have rid miles
and miles to have watched for me thar in the brush at the foot of
Galloper's to-night, jest to see if all was safe; and Lordy! I'd have
given him the signal and showed a light if I'd died for it the next
minit. There! That's what I know of Charley--that's what I'm running
away from home for--that's what I'm running to him for, and I don't
care who knows it! And I only wish I'd done it afore--and I
would--if--if--if--he'd only ASKED ME! There now!" She stopped, panted,
and choked. Then one of the sudden transitions of youthful emotion
overtook the eager, laughing face; it clouded up with the swift change
of childhood, a lightning quiver of expression broke over it, and--then
came the rain!

I think this simple act completed our utter demoralization! We smiled
feebly at each other with that assumption of masculine superiority
which is miserably conscious of its own helplessness at such moments. We
looked out of the window, blew our noses, said: "Eh--what?" and "I say,"
vaguely to each other, and were greatly relieved, and yet apparently
astonished, when Yuba Bi