woman, for this Californian sun is passionate, and matures us early. A great black pet bear was by her side, and she seemed to shrink as she saw me, a stranger, there, and half hid behind his shaggy coat. She took an apple from the ground that had fallen in the path, and then the huge bear reared himself on his hind legs before her as she turned, showing the white of his breast to us, and opened his red mouth, and held his head coaxingly to one side to receive the apple. The bear was as tall as the little woman.
The next morning, when I persisted that I could not remain, fresh horses were saddled for us, and an Indian given to return the tired mules to the station.
"Why did you not tell me," said I, as we walked down the path to the canoe, i that you bore nothing of the blood of those men?"
The old nervousness swept across his face, but he was composed and pleasant.
"Would men have believed me ? And if they had believed me, was I not as able to bear the blame as the poor, desperate and outraged little Indian? As a true Indian, he could not have done otherwise than lie did. If ever men deserved death those did. Yet, had it even been believed that they fell by an Indian's hand, not only those two children, but every Indian that set his foot in camp had been butchered."
I could not answer. I could only think how this man must have suffered to save those two waifs of the forest, how he had thought it all o
