Lieutenant¹ Russell held a long consultation² with Nellie Dawson, after the departure of Vose Adams. His first intention had been to press their flight with all possible vigor³, and, as will be recalled, Adams carried away that belief with him.  
“My view of matters has undergone a change,” he said after a time to his companion, who looked up in his face for an explanation.
 
“Instead of waiting until we reach Sacramento for a meeting with your father, I believe it will be much better to have it as soon as possible.”
 
“Why?” she asked, though curious to say, she had been wavering for some time in her belief.
 
“It will add to rather than lessen⁴ his anger, if he is obliged to follow us that far, and the fact that he is in a city instead of the mountains will not decrease his determination to do me injury.”
 
“What about those who are with him?”
 
“Your father is the only one to be considered. My proposal is that we wait here till to-morrow morning until they come up; what is your opinion?”
 
310
“I believe you are right; let us do so; I don’t think father will cast me off when I go to him.”
 
The plan was carried out, though the young man felt more misgiving⁵ than his companion suspected. He remained on guard a part of the night, sharing the duty with Timon, whose almost human intelligence made him as reliable as a trained scout⁶ himself.
 
Straight to the spot came the pursuers soon after daylight, when the horses were saddled and bridled⁷. Nellie was in a state of feverish⁸ expectancy⁹. When she caught sight of her father, leading the others, she joyfully¹⁰ uttered his name and ran toward him with outstretched arms.
 
“Father, my own father, are you not glad to see your Nellie?”
 
Still holding his Winchester half-raised, he glanced sternly at her and replied:
 
“Come no nearer; you are no daughter of mine!”
 
She stopped as if shot, and with hands still outstretched stood motionless, with her eyes fixed¹² yearningly¹³ upon him. She was like a marble statue, without the breath of life in her body. All were silent. Even Timon looked from one to another without moving. The whole thing was beyond his comprehension.
 
Then the dreadful truth seemed to force itself upon the consciousness of the girl, who staggered backward to the nearest boulder¹⁴, upon which she sank and covered 311 her face with her hands. She did not weep, for her grief was too deep.
 
And who shall picture the sorrow that wrenched¹⁵ the heart strings¹⁶ of the parent? There was a strange look on his face and his massive frame trembled. But he quickly recovered his self-poise, and looking away from his child, fixed his eyes upon Lieutenant Russell.
 
“It is with you that I have to settle.”
 
“I am ready.”
 
The young officer was standing¹⁷ beside his pony¹⁸, with one arm resting on the saddle, across which his rifle was supported, while the other hand lay idly on his hip¹⁹, and his body was borne upon one foot. His pose was one of negligence²⁰, as if he and his animal had taken position before the camera, and the world contained no such thing as hatred²¹ and enmity. He looked calmly into the angered countenance²², while he waited for the next words of the man who was impatient to send a bullet through his heart.
 
Wade²³ Ruggles and Felix Brush would have been glad of the privilege of doing this, but they felt that for the time they were out of it. The right of calling Lieutenant Russell to account lay with the father of Nellie. They had nothing to do or say until that tragedy was ended, and they stood apart, silent, grim and

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