a pleasant thrill of interest and excitement. Well, he was in for it now, and no blame to him. "I can tell you what it is," he said, graciously. "It's a ghost-haunted relic of what once was a dwellingplace. It's made of redwood boards, and shakes, and wire nails, with a whole phonograph record of creaks thrown in when the wind blows. And I can tell you how to get there; and if I were a native-born Californian I would and never worry about what became of you; as I am not, I won't." "Please tell me," she commanded. "I'm sure I could find my way there." "Perhaps you could — but wouldn't be the way I told you." it Kent liked the girl immensely. She was none of those doll-like creatures with soft, pretty voices, asking to be amused. She was rather tall, and dark, with straight, black hair, and a firm, self-reliant manner that was well suited to her years-she must have been twenty-eight or thirty. Her voice was strong and incisive, and she had a little trick of jerking her head back and looking you in the eyes when she talked which carried the conviction that she was in earnest in what she said. Just now she was tapping the ground impatiently with her foot, and flicking the dust from her black skirt with the short raw-hide whip which she carried in her hand. Her forehead was puckered in a little frown, and the quick rise and fall of the white sweater showed that she was, to say the least, annoyed at him. "I'll tell you," he said, by way of pouring oil on the troubled waters, "I've nothing to do at present but watch this squirrel-hole; so if you really want to go, I'll trot along and show you the way." "Oh, thank you! how good of you!" she cried, all graciousness. "But"hesitating "mightn't you lose chance ?" -- a "No," he said, gloomily, "you needn't worry about that. This feud is of long standing, you see. He began it by digging a tunnel under the driveway. Of course my little buck skin, Sandy, broke through and lamed himself for a month, not to speak of sending me twenty feet over his head. I set a trap; but he'd spring it every time with a twig or pebble. I bought some poison and he kicked dirt over it. Then I stuffed a tin can and about fifty yards of burlap into each of his holes. He dug around them. I've been up north for a few months; but now that I'm back I'm trying this as a last resort. Not that I think of succeeding: I have a firm conviction that, even if he did pop up, the cartridge would miss fire, or burst the gun, or do anything but kill that squirrelhe's immortal." The lady smiled, and Kent led the way out past the stables to the trail. In about half an hour, after many windings and doublings through halfobliterated foot-paths, they came out from the sage-brush and chaparral into the little clearing where stood the cabin. "It isn't much now that you get to it," said Kent, pointing to the tin cans and scattered debris half hidden by the short underbrush. "It was far more romantic from down in the valley," she said, disappointedly. "I'm almost sorry I came." They sat down on a weather-beaten plank to rest. "What a place this would be for spooks," she said, looking around her at the desolation of the abandoned dwelling-place. "Perhaps one of them has been here, and left that behind," remarked Kent, humorously, pointing with his toe to an old boot which lay beside them in the grass. "Perhaps," she laughed, flicking it with her whip. She leaned forward and picked it up gingerly between a white thumb and finger. "It's a pretty good shoe to be thrown away," she observed critically, handing it to him for inspection. It was a heavy working boot, well made, and not more than a week from the shop, to judge by appearances. He turned it up to inspect the sole. The lady uttered a sharp, startled ex A HALF-RIPE PERSIMMON. clamation: a little horned toad had dropped out upon the ground. "How funny!" she cried. "What a nice hiding-place it it was. Why! what's the matter?" "My dear lady," returned Kent solemnly, "do you really see nothing peculiar in a horned toad wandering around on the mountainside in the last week in December? They generally, like Caesar's army, go into winter quarters, you know." Her face was blank for a moment. Then she smiled at his simplicity. "He hibernated in the shoe, of course." "Your theory is excellent," said Kent, thoughtfully, "but your observation is at fault: the shoe was not here before yesterday, and neither, I believe, was the reptile." She stared in amazement. "How do you know that?" she demanded. "The night before last it raineddid it not?" "Yes." "Has that shoe been wet inside of forty-eight hours?" "It doesn't look as though it had," she confessed, her face indicating a breaking light-"but the toad?" "If he had been here he would have crawled into the earth and buried himself weeks ago. We must, therefore, conclude that someone, in kindness of heart, toted him up here on to the mountainside, gave him a perfectly good shoe to live in, and left him to enjoy himself; which is really rather an absurd_" 241 ets to scare people with. But he dis- "But how did he get here, then?"she seemed utterly dazed by the unexpected development. "It would look," said Kent casually, "as though your sister must have been here, and emptied her pocket-" "But she said she was going for a swim in the big hole above the Blue Rocks," persisted the lady. Involuntarily Kent glanced at the heavy boot lying in the grass; then back at her. Her eyes followed his, and remained riveted on the brown leather. A sudden horror flashed into them. She clutched his arm wildly. "Quick!" she cried. "We must find her. Oh! you will help me?" She began to run about hysterically. "This way," he said, catching her hand, and dragging her toward the only trail by which her sister could. have come and gone-the trail which led around the mountainside into the big canyon. She recovered herself immediately when summoned to definite action, and sped along by his side, an unwonted paleness of cheek, and a firm compression of the lips alone testifying to the tumultuous feeling within. There was also a certain hard gleam in the eyes that flashed occasionally into her companion's which boded ill for the man who dared harm her sister. The little whip was gripped de "Mercy on us!" screamed the lady, terminedly in her hand. "it's Pedro!" It was Kent's turn to be amazed. She sat down on the ground beside the toad which was moving sluggishly and sleepily in the warm sunshine. Following her finger, he saw, burnt lightly into its horny back, the letter "P." A bewildered, half-scared look was on her face as she turned it to his. He waited for her to explain. She rose slowly to her feet. "He belongs to my sister Elsa. We caught him down at Pasadena. She used to carry him around in her pock They came presently to a soft spot in the trail, and here were signs that did not allay their fears: foot-prints of little slippered feet, half obliterated by great pad-like marks as of a man walking with his shoes off. They quickened their pace almost to a run, keeping always a sharp lookout for additional signs that might reveal to them the state of affairs. They saw nothing, however, except the footmarks in the various damp places, until they turned the sharp corner of rock where the trail swung around into the big canyon. They almost stumbled over the body of a Mexican who lay sprawled out across their path. The lady gave a little scream and started back into Kent's arms. The man looked up at them in a drunken stupor; then, finding them, apparently, quite uninteresting, he began again a vain endeavor to extract another precious drop from the empty flask which he held in his hand. The mate to the boot which they had found was tied to his belt. He had evidently taken his boots off to avoid being heard, and had lost one back by the cabin. There was no sign of the owner of the slippers. Kent propped the man against the rock, and stood in front of him while the lady passed; then they hastened on, leaving him to the enjoyment of his bottle. They paused again at the next bit of soft ground to read the story of the foot-marks. Here were little slippered feet coming, and here were the little slippered feet returning, here were the big stockinged feet coming, and there were a pair of stylishly shaped sevens coming, and turning aside into a clump of shrubbery, and going out again and down the trail. And here-God help us!-the little slippered feet began to run; and there -the Devil take them!!!-the stylish sevens ran after. Kent had never seen in any face an anger like to that which flamed in the face of the lady with the whip when the story was unfolded. She stood one moment, with clenched hands, and quivernig nostrils, and back-curling lips; then, with a little snarl of rage, she started off down the trail at a rate that he was somewhat put to to equal. It would hardly be true to say that Kent was not more or less curious to know just how much the lady had discovered: she acted like one in no uncertainty whatever. But there was no breath for question or answer in that wild scramble over rocks and loose shale, and through encroaching brush, with the crooked branches of the manzanita, and the tiny, thorn-edged leaves of the scrub-oak whipping across face and hands. He was obliged, perforce, to follow blindly the guidance of the little whip. Presently they came down among the silver-trunked sycamores of the canyon bed. Then they stopped abruptly: for, from just below them, full and clear above the rushing of the stream, a woman's voice broke the solitude of the mountains with a cry of scared defiance. In a moment Kent and his companion were looking down over a precipitous bank into the bed of the stream. and there, in a tiny amphitheater of moss-grown bowlder and trailing vine, stood a girl, big-eyed, white-lipped, and defiant, with her back against the rock, and one arm thrown up as if to hurl the small red object which she held in her hand into the face of the man in front of her. He, a plump little man, with a bald head, and a smooth, oily countenance, on which reposed a diabolical grin of triumph, was holding out to her a pad of notepaper, and making little jabs in the air toward her with the butt-end of a fountain pen. Kent was on the point of calling out, and breaking into the situation, when the lady laid her finger on his lips. She was evidently desirous to find out just how matters stood, now that her sister's safety was assured by their presence. "Gently, now, gently, little girl," said the man. "You've no call to act that way. It isn't going to hurt you any just to write a little note like that. But it is quite essential to your brother's plans, and to Harry Maber's plans, and to my plans, that Miss Sadie Richmond"-here Kent's brain turned quite a somersault-"stay away from San Diego for two weeks longer. Harry's got her on the string, she thinks she's in love with him, and a note from you inviting them both here will fix things all right sure. And in the meantime-" "Well, in the meantime?" A HALF-RIPE PERSIMMON. 243 "Oh! never mind; that's our part of the game." "And suppose I won't write it?" “Ah! dear me-in that case-ah! I have here-your dear brother abstracted them from their hiding-place, I believe some slight trinkets"-he fetched out a little sandal-wood casket "which you can have-when you have written the letter." Kent could hear the lady's breath drawn quick and sharp behind him. The girl below leaned back against the rock. "My diamonds!" she gasped. "Well?" suggested the man. The girl was silent for a moment, but her face revealed the struggle that was going on within. Suddenly she burst forth: "I won't write it-I won't! I may be bad, but I'm not bad enough to help you with any of your devilish schemes. Keep the old stones if you can; but I won't write it, so there!" "Ah! I was afraid you might feel that way about it; that's why I got you up here away from interruptions." There was a dangerous tone in the man's voice. "We'll have to try another way, I guess." He took a step forward; the girl shrank back in terror. "No, you don't!" cried Kent, covering the man with his rifle. But even as he spoke, something shot past him down the slippery mossbank, and landed with a thud and a crunch of gravel between the man and the girl. It was the lady with the whip. In a moment she stood erect, head thrown back, facing the penbearer. She did not speak, but looked him up and down with such magnificent anger and contempt that he cringed before her. Then, with a halfstep backward, she raised her arm, and struck him, once, twice, three times, full across the face, with the stinging rawhide lash; and at every stroke an angry red bar leapt out across the oily pallor of his flesh. With a cry of pain he dropped everything, covered his face with his hands, turned, and stumbled off down the trail as fast as he could waddle. The lady stood motionless until he had passed from sight; then she stooped to pick up the jewel-box and the paper. When she looked up at Kent her anger had burnt itself out. Kent opened the breech of his rifle and threw out the shell, closed it, and slid down beside her. It was an awkward moment for them both. "Well," she said, in a colorless voice, "you know now what sort of people we are; I suppose you don't care for my thanks.' I "Indeed, and I care very much for it," he answered, warmly. "And I assure you though I may be wrong to do it that what I have learned today will be forgotten tomorrow. must, of course, warn Miss Richmond to be on her guard; but beyond that I shall take no action-none, that is, which will affect your brother and your good name. As for Mr. Harry Maber, I had the honor of meeting him once through the kindness of Miss Richmond, and I shall make it a point to look him up again when I feel in need of a little exercise. It will be a great pleasure under the circumstances." said, the "You are He isn't "Oh, I thank you!" she tears springing to her eyes. kind to spare my brother. really bad, but he's got into bad company. These scoundrels will break with him now that this scheme, whatever it was, has failed, and I may save him yet." She turned to her sister. "Well, Elsa?" she demanded. The girl had sunk to the ground and was sobbing hysterically. When the lady spoke and laid a hand on her shoulder she sat up, and, perceiving Kent, blushed, and became comparatively tranquil. She was a great contrast to her sister: for, while her hair was dark—a rich, wavy brown-her complexion was much fairer, and the coquettish eyes which peeped out from the long dark lashes were a deep, sunny blue. Nor had she her sister's air of firmness and character. Her face, with its soft dimples and its Cupid's-bow mouth, that just matched in color the half-ripe persimmon which she held in her hand, was enticing rather than attractive. She was a girl whom some men might love, but that more men would make fools of themselves over. She had on a heavy, dark kimono, which showed the "V"-throat of her bathing costume at the top, and the toes of two little pink slippers at the hem; her hair was bound in a bandana. While Kent was taking in her appearance she was busy drying her eyes with the handkerchief which her sister gave her. Now she glanced from the lady to Kent and back again with a look of studied significance. The lady gave a little impatient jerk. "Well, Elsa, I think you might explain what this means, mightn't you?" "Since you won't give me an introduction," said Elsa with a pout, “I suppose I might." Kent was on the point of introducing himself to them, but the lady bit her lip and frowned, and, taking his cue from her, he held his peace. Elsa seated herself on a rock and looked at the water. "There isn't much to tell," she began. “I just wandered up the canyon here from the pool, and he found me, and tried to make me write that letter-" "Elsa," interrupted the lady sternly, "why did you come to that cabin on the hill? And-" Elsa sprang to her feet. "How did you know that?" she cried angrily. The lady was looking at her steadily. "Well, since you know so much, Harry sent me a note asking me to meet him there"-defiantly. The lady glanced at Kent. "Elsa is so indiscreet," she murmured apologetically. "Oh! I know what you'll say," stormed the girl. "You'll tell me that you knew all along that he was after more than just me, that he never really cared for me-as though I ever thought he did!"-bitterly-"I played with him for the fun of the thing." "And it nearly lost you a fortune or something of greater value," observed the lady quietly, handing the girl the jewel-box. "Go on." "To begin at the beginning," she said, "I was on my way to the Blue Rocks pool when a little Mexican boy brought me the note from Harry. I don't know why I went; I suppose it was just for excitement. When I reached the cabin no one was there; but presently a dirty old Mexican, with his boots off, and half drunk, came waltzing around the corner. I tried to dodge past him and get away, but he caught me and led me back, muttering something about keeping me there till the 'gem'lemens come.' He became quite jolly over his liquor and told me a lot of interesting things in Spanish that I couldn't understand. Then he walked off down the trail. I followed him until he was tired and sat down; then I passed him; and the first thing I knew I was running away from that oily beast of a Hodgekin. I kept on running until he cornered me here. And then you came-and that's all; except that I'd have killed him if he'd dared to touch me. But I'm glad you turned up, sis"-rising as she finished-"and thank you very kindly"-with a half-ironical bow, which included Kent as well as the lady. "You have reason to thank this gentleman," said the lady, as she led the way down the canyon trail. "If it hadn't been for him-and Pedroand Fate, I should never have known that anything was wrong until it was too late; and I'm sure I never could have found you if I had." Elsa took Kent's arm. A soft blush was on her face. "I do thank you," she said demurely, "for-showing me that I'm not the only person who can dispense with introductions. You don't know what a relief it is." Kent was too confused by her unexpected turn to think of a reply. "Elsa!" cried the lady sharply. The girl squeezed Kent's arm ecstatically. She seemed to take it for granted that he sided with her. And, |