ible misgivings was inclined to await the coming of his principal,
but a nearer view of Jeff's perplexed face, and an examination of Jeff's
gun, and the few coins spread before him, finally induced him to produce
certain articles, which he packed in a basket and handed to Jeff,
taking the gun and coins in exchange. Thus relieved, Jeff set his face
homewards, and ran a race with the morning into the valley, reaching
the "Half-way House" as the sun laid waste its bare, bleak outlines, and
relentlessly pointed out its defects one by one. It was cruel to Jeff at
that moment, but he hugged his basket close and slipped to the back door
and the kitchen, where his aunt was already at work.

"I didn't know ye were up yet, aunty," said Jeff submissively. "It isn't
more than six o'clock."

"Thar's four more to feed at breakfast," said his aunt severely, "and
yer's the top blown off the kitchen chimbly, and the fire only just got
to go."

Jeff saw that he was in time. The ordinary breakfast of the "Half-way
House," not yet prepared, consisted of codfish, ham, yellow-ochre
biscuit, made after a peculiar receipt of his aunt's, and potatoes.

"I got a few fancy fixin's up at the Summit this morning, aunty," he
began apologetically, "seein' we had sick folks, you know--you and the
young lady--and thinkin' it might save you trouble. I've got 'em here,"
and he shyly produced the basket.

"If ye kin afford it, Jeff," responded his aunt resignedly, "I'm
thankful."

The reply was so unexpectedly mild for Aunt Sally, that Jeff put his
arms around her and kissed her hard cheek. "And I've got some quail,
aunty, knowin' you liked em."

"I reckoned you was up to some such foolishness," said Aunt Sally,
wiping her cheek with her apron, "when I missed yer gun from the hall."
But the allusion was a dangerous one, and Jeff slipped away.

He breakfasted early with Yuba Bill that morning; the latter gentleman's
taciturnity being intensified at such moments through a long habit of
confining himself strictly to eating in the limited time allowed his
daily repasts, and it was not until they had taken the horses from the
stable and were harnessing them to the coach that Jeff extracted from
his companion some facts about his guests. They were Mr. and Mrs.
Mayfield, Eastern tourists, who had been to the Sandwich Islands for the
benefit of their daughter's health, and before returning to New York,
intended, under the advice of their physician, to fu