into
the arms of two _peons_ who stood below to assist her to the ground.

"Hello, Jack!" she continued, advancing, "I'll wager you didn't expect
to see us this morning, did you?"

The Captain noted the ring of sarcasm in her voice as she concluded.

"I confess I did not, Cousin," he answered, descending the veranda to
meet them. "What in the world brought you here?" he asked, taking his
cousin's hand.

"Oh! we thought we'd like to see a little more of the world before we
became too old to enjoy traveling," she answered, with a peculiar little
laugh that was all her own and which usually conveyed a sense of
uneasiness to those toward whom it was directed.

"How much longer are you going to stand there asking idiotic questions?"
broke in Mrs. Forest with a furious glance at her son. "Can't you see,
I'm nearly dead?"

"Really, Mother, I'm very sorry," returned the Captain, "but it's all
your own fault, you know. Why did you come?"

"Our fault--why did we come? It's your fault--your fault, sir!" she
almost screamed, and ended by laughing hysterically.

Colonel Van Ashton who had been nursing his wrath all night long while
being bumped over a rough road in an old broken-down stagecoach,
required but the sight of his nephew to cause an explosion. He had not
closed his eyes during the entire night, and like his sister, Mrs.
Forest, was in a state of collapse. His usually florid complexion had
turned to a brilliant crimson, giving him the appearance of an
overheated furnace.

He regarded himself as a martyr, nay, worse--an innocent victim of fate
who, entirely against his will, had been cruelly dragged into the
present intolerable situation by the caprice of his accursed nephew.

He had suffered long and patiently all that mortal flesh and blood could
endure. But, thank God, there were compensations in this life after
all--the object of his wrath stood before him at last.

"So this, sir, is what you call returning to nature, is it?" he cried in
a hoarse roar, controlling his voice with difficulty and glaring
savagely at his nephew.

"It's evidently not to your liking, Uncle," replied the Captain quietly,
doing his best to keep from laughing in his face.

"Liking!"--roared the Colonel again, his voice raised to the breaking
pitch--"I never thought I'd get to hell so soon! Why, sir," he
continued, knocking a cloud of dust from his hat, "this isn't nature,
this is geology! I don't see how you ever discovered the d