"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 misgiving 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 scout himself.

Straight to the spot came the pursuers soon after daylight, when the horses were saddled and bridled. Nellie was in a state of feverish expectancy. When she caught sight of her father, leading the others, she joyfully 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 fixed yearningly 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 boulder, upon which she sank and covered her face with her hands. She did not weep, for her grief was too deep.

And who shall picture the sorrow that wrenched the heart strings of the parent? There was a strange look on his face and his ma.s.sive 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 standing beside his pony, with one arm resting on the saddle, across which his rifle was supported, while the other hand lay idly on his hip, and his body was borne upon one foot. His pose was one of negligence, as if he and his animal had taken position before the camera, and the world contained no such thing as hatred and enmity. He looked calmly into the angered countenance, while he waited for the next words of the man who was impatient to send a bullet through his heart.

Wade 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 watchful of everything.

The coolness of the young man disconcerted the captain for the moment. Feeling it unnecessary to hold his weapon, he lowered the point, but, never once removing his eyes from the face of the other, said:

"I will give you the same chance as myself for your life; though you do not deserve to live, it shall never be said I took any advantage over you. Each of us has a revolver and knows how to use it; you may pace off the distance for yourself, but make it short."

"Captain, I decline to fight you," replied Lieutenant Russell, without a change of pose and in his usual voice.

"Why?" demanded the other.

"You have saved my life on the battle field; we have been comrades; we have drank from the same canteen; shoot me if you wish; I will keep the position I now hold and you may stand where you are; you have your Winchester in your hands; you have but to raise it and it will be all over in a twinkling, but nothing that you can say or do will induce me to harm one of your gray hairs."

This reply was unexpected to all, but it served if possible to intensify the wrath of Captain Dawson. He shook with tempestuous rage, and it was several seconds before he could command his voice. Ruggles, Brush and Adams did not stir or whisper a word to one another. The white-faced Nellie remained seated on the boulder, but she lowered her hands and stared at the two, as if she could not comprehend it all.

Once she made a motion to rise, but sank back and stared with a fixidity of gaze that went to the hearts of the three spectators.

"You are a sneaking scoundrel to use those words," said Captain Dawson, when able to command his voice; "all the past is wiped out except that of the last two days; I shall shoot you for stealing my child from me."

The lieutenant looked calmly into the countenance of the man, and, lowering his tones almost to a whisper, that was perfectly audible to all, replied:

"I am at your disposal."

From the moment Captain Dawson learned of the flight of his child, he had been eager for but one thing,--the opportunity to draw bead on the miscreant, without giving him an instant to prepare for death. That opportunity was his but he hesitated. Something that he could not explain, but which incensed him, held his hand motionless.

But perhaps the end would have been the same, when he rallied from the momentary struggle, had not his daughter awakened from the daze that had held her mute and motionless. Like Pocahontas, she sprang forward, with arms again outstretched, and with a faint shriek, flung them about the form of her lover.

"Shoot father, if you will, but you shall kill me too!"

Felix Brush shivered and turning away his head, muttered in a broken voice:

"My G.o.d, Wade! I can't stand this!"

Ruggles attempted to reply, but the words choked in his throat. Still he and Adams kept their eyes upon the three before them. Ruggles was on the point of interfering when Nellie Dawson averted the necessity.

Lieutenant Russell was disconcerted. His lip quivered, and, with infinite tenderness, he sought to loosen the arms that entwined him, but she would not permit it.

"No, no, no! He shall not part us! Let him slay us both! Do not repulse me! I will die with you!"

The situation of Captain Dawson was awful. He was scarcely himself.

The dainty form of his child could not fully shield the athletic figure of Lieutenant Russell, strive as much as she might, and the opening for the threatened shot was as clear as ever. Whether he would have persisted in his intention can never be known, for at that juncture the startling incidents were succeeded by one still more startling and unexpected.

CHAPTER XXVII

NO BRAVER DEED EVER WAS DONE

The hearts of two of the party were wrung as never before. Wade Ruggles and Felix Brush saw with noonday clearness the dreadful mistake they had made in the past in hoping to win the heart of the maiden who had declared that if her beloved was to die she would die with him. It was contrary to nature and the laws of G.o.d, and it was characteristic of each that he felt a thrill of grat.i.tude over the belief that no person suspected his secret. Both would have died rather than allow it ever to become known.

With this awakening came a transformation of feeling toward the couple. They sympathized with Lieutenant Russell, but more than all, they pitied her whose soul was distraught with grief. They had never before seen her in the agony of distress and neither could stand it.

"Brush," whispered Ruggles, "this must stop."

"_Hold!_" called Brush in a loud voice, striding commandingly forward with his arm upraised; "I have something to say!"

There was a majesty and an impressiveness of mien like that of the Hebrew prophet who hushed the tempest. Captain Dawson, without moving body or limb, turned and glared at the intruder; Ruggles kept his position; Nellie Dawson, with arms still clasping the neck of her betrothed, looked over her shoulder at her old friend; Lieutenant Russell reached up so as to hold the wrists of the girl, while still retaining his grip upon his rifle and fixed his eyes upon the tall, gaunt figure that halted between him and Captain Dawson and a little to one side of him.

"Lieutenant Frederic Russell, do you love Nellie Dawson?" was the astounding question that fell from the lips of Brush.

"Aye, more than my life," was the prompt response.

"And you have started for Sacramento with the purpose of making her your wife?"

"That was my resolve with the help of heaven."

"And, Nellie, you agreed to this?"

"Yes, yes; we shall not be parted in life or death."

"Such being your feelings," continued Felix Brush, in the same loud, clear tones, "I p.r.o.nounce you man and wife, and whom G.o.d hath joined together let not man put asunder!"

It was a thunderclap. No one moved or spoke for a full minute. Felix Brush was the only one who seemed to retain command of his senses.

Stepping forward, with a strange smile on his seamed countenance, he extended his hand to the groom.

"Allow me to congratulate you, lieutenant; and, Nellie, I don't think you will deny me my fee."