mpany afore long. Tell the fellows at Deadman's Gulch to look out for
me at any time."

Although Clarence was not going to Deadman's Gulch, knew nothing of it,
and had a faint suspicion that Jim was equally ignorant, yet as one or
two of the passengers glanced anxiously at the demure, gray-eyed boy
who seemed booked for such a baleful destination, he really felt the
half-delighted, half-frightened consciousness that he was starting in
life under fascinating immoral pretenses. But the forward spring of the
fine-spirited horses, the quickened motion, the glittering sunlight, and
the thought that he really was leaving behind him all the shackles of
dependence and custom, and plunging into a life of freedom, drove
all else from his mind. He turned at last from this hopeful, blissful
future, and began to examine his fellow passengers with boyish
curiosity. Wedged in between two silent men on the front seat, one of
whom seemed a farmer, and the other, by his black attire, a professional
man, Clarence was finally attracted by a black-mantled, dark-haired,
bonnetless woman on the back seat, whose attention seemed to be
monopolized by the jocular gallantries of her companions and the two
men before her in the middle seat. From her position he could see little
more than her dark eyes, which occasionally seemed to meet his frank
curiosity in an amused sort of way, but he was chiefly struck by the
pretty foreign sound of her musical voice, which was unlike anything
he had ever heard before, and--alas for the inconstancy of youth--much
finer than Mrs. Peyton's. Presently his farmer companion, casting a
patronizing glance on Clarence's pea-jacket and brass buttons, said
cheerily--

"Jest off a voyage, sonny?"

"No, sir," stammered Clarence; "I came across the plains."

"Then I reckon that's the rig-out for the crew of a prairie schooner,
eh?" There was a laugh at this which perplexed Clarence. Observing it,
the humorist kindly condescended to explain that "prairie schooner" was
the current slang for an emigrant wagon.

"I couldn't," explained Clarence, naively looking at the dark eyes on
the back seat, "get any clothes at Stockton but these; I suppose the
folks didn't think there'd ever be boys in California."

The simplicity of this speech evidently impressed the others, for
the two men in the middle seats turned at a whisper from the lady and
regarded him curiously. Clarence blushed slightly and became silent.
Presently the