ifornian's existence. To them he
seemed to have come out of the Sierras like a Rip Van Winkle, who slept
soundly on, asking no questions. But to the old men he had died a youth,
full of promise. They remembered well the eager buoyancy with which he
and his comrades had set out for the gold fields. Middle-aged men and
women remembered his school days in Reedsville, when he was one of them,
when they were all healthy, merry boys and girls together.

The funeral over, and the Californian safely laid in his native soil on
the hillside, men gathered in groups on the corners of the village
street, or stepped into the bank to look at the six-shooter which had
failed their friend in his hour of need. The local minister, gazing upon
the dead man's revolver, was heard to remark:

"They that take the sword shall perish with the sword."

But the bystanders would not endure the doctrine. Their Anglo-Saxon
blood recoiled. And a former Californian, who was an old friend of
Cummins, stepped forward and said:

"Mr. Lamb, Will Cummins was not afraid to perish with the sword. And, if
he could have drawn that revolver, there would have been two dead
robbers. This doctrine of non-resistance is wrong, dead wrong. We proved
that in California, just as you people proved it here in the Civil War.
Will Cummins was not afraid to defend his rights."

"But," replied the minister, who in spite of his name seemed eager for
the combat, "the Civil War was a national crime. Think of the hundreds
of thousands of young men, North and South, who perished."

"Yes, Mr. Lamb, the war _was_ a crime. And Jeff Davis and the other
criminals ought to have been hanged, just as those stage-robbers ought
to be."

"Don't you see, my friend," replied the minister, "that violence breeds
violence?"

"Then," rather scornfully, "you think Will Cummins did wrong to defend
his property?"

"He would have been alive to-day if he hadn't."

"But that's not the point. Will Cummins died for a principle. He
believed in self-defense, and was not afraid to risk his life."

"Of course," said the minister, "I admit that he was a brave man. But
Christ said, 'if any man take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak
also'--'turn the other cheek'--'resist not evil'--'they that take the
sword shall perish with the sword.'"

"Well," said the Californian, "I don't dispute the fact that people who
carry weapons are likely to get killed. What I say is, I admire a man
who is not afra