"What a madman I have been!" cried Harry.
"And what a crazy fool I have been for five long years!" exclaimed
Clarence.
"I have been an idiot!" said Harry.
"And I have been a brute!" said Clarence, "to desert her as I did!"
"She is an angel!" cried Harry.
"What must she think of me?" groaned Clarence.
"Let us go back to the States!" said Harry, springing up impulsively.
"You can't go to-night. We will all be off in the morning," said Tom
Seddon.
These exclamations were uttered by the two young men after a
conversation, in which all that has been long known to the reader was
fully explained.
In the morning, before the woodpecker's tap was heard on the bark of the
lofty pines, the young men were on their feet, and making preparations
for their departure.
"Where is Hercules?" asked Toney.
"He is sleeping by the side of yonder old log," said Tom.
"I will wake him," said Toney. And he proceeded to the spot pointed out,
and came running back as pale as a ghost.
"What's the matter?" asked Tom.
Toney could hardly speak. He gasped out,--
"A rattlesnake is coiled up on his blanket!"
Tom Seddon was about to run to the spot, when Harry Vincent held him
back.
"Hush!" said Harry. "Make no noise, or he is a dead man!"
He and Clarence then took their rifles and advanced cautiously to the
place where Hercules lay in a sound sleep. The reptile was coiled up
with its head nearly touching his shoulder. Harry put the muzzle of his
rifle within an inch of the snake's head and fired.
Hercules leaped up and uttered a howl. He turned round and beheld two
strange men standing before him with rifles in their hands. With a wild
yell of terror the giant fled across the ravine, and along a road
leading over a mountain.
"Come back! come back!" shouted Toney.
But Hercules continued his flight.
"Mount that mule, Tom, and ride after him, or the fool won't stop
running until he gets to Oregon," said Toney.
Tom mounted the mule, and, after a long chase, captured the giant and
brought him back to camp.
"Look there!" said Tom, pointing to the decapitated serpent.
"Was that it?" said Hercules. "He's a whopper!" And he stooped down and
examined the dead body of his bed-fellow.
"Eighteen rattles and a button!" said Tom.
"Which indicate that he has lived twenty-one years," said Clarence.
"The snake had arrived at years of discretion," said the Professor.
"He showed very little discretion in selecting Hercules for a sleeping
partner," said Toney.
"The firm of Hercules & Co. would be a dangerous one to deal with,"
said the Professor.
"To avoid it would have been prudent during the lifetime of his deceased
partner," said Toney.
"What are you going to do with them?" asked Tom, as Hercules cut off the
rattles and put them in his pocket.
"Carry them with me to the States, when I go," said Hercules.
"We are going back now," said Tom.
"Are you going?" asked Hercules.
"Yes," said Tom; "we are getting ready to start."
"I will go too," said Hercules; "I have got gold enough."
"What will you do with your gold when you get home?" asked Tom.
"Buy a farm, and then----" Hercules hesitated and blushed.
"Well, what then?" asked Toney.
"I will marry my little cousin," said the giant.
"That's right!" said Toney.
"Who is your little cousin?" asked Tom.
"Polly Sampson. She is a very little woman, but she is very pretty."
"Well, come help us to pack up, and we will all be off," said Tom.
"And you can go home and marry Polly Sampson," said Toney.
Hercules went to work with alacrity, and they were soon packed up, and
on the road to Sacramento; which place they reached late at night, and
on the following evening were in San Francisco. They were detained in
the city of Saint Francis several days; and the business relating to the
sale of their sand-hill having been completed, Toney, Tom, and the
Professor went on board the steamer with their fortunes in their
money-belts, in the shape of drafts on banking-houses in New York. They
soon passed through the Golden Gate and were on the broad waters of the
Pacific Ocean. The weather was fine, and the vessel was remarkable for
her speed. In a few days they were running along in sight of the coast
of Lower California, and about two leagues from the land. The Professor
was on deck, with a telescope in his hand, looking at the desolate
coast, when he suddenly cried out,--
"There are several persons standing on the beach."
"They are pelicans," said the captain. "At a distance they are often
mistaken for human beings."
"Human beings they are," said the Professor; "and, good heavens! there
is a woman among them. They have a white handkerchief elevated as a
signal of distress."
The captain took the telescope, and, after looking through it, said,--
"You are right. There are several men; and there is a woman among them."
"This coast is uninhabited," said the Professor. "Who can they be?"
"Persons escaped from some wreck," said the captain.
"Put the ship about! Run her in towards the land! They must be rescued!"
cried the Professor.
"I dare not do it; the water is shoal," said the captain. "We must stop
the engines and lower a boat."
The order was given; the engines stop, and the boat lowered, and into it
leaped Toney and the Professor; while six seamen manned the oars. The
boat put off from the vessel; and the sailors pulling with a will, they
were soon approaching the shore. Several men were seen standing on a
rock, and one of them was waving a white handkerchief. They cheered, and
were responded to by the loud huzzas of the party in the boat, which
grounded within a few yards of the shore. The Professor's gaze was
intently fixed on some object at the base of the rock.
It was a young and beautiful woman. She was standing, with her eyes
upturned and her hands clasped, as if thanking Heaven for their
deliverance.
The Professor leaped into the water, and rushed to the beach. He stood
for a moment gazing at the beautiful girl. He then rushed forward and
exclaimed,--
"Dora!"
As she heard his voice she started, and then, with a joyful cry of
recognition, uttered his name, and was caught in his arms as, overcome
with emotion, she was falling to the ground.