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IN THE CARQUINEZ WOODS.*
In this story Mr. Bret llarte shows much ,
of his old power, but he has used it in such j
way that he can hardly be saHto ha^esu j
ceeded in widening his familiar domiim. j
The scenic accessories are cba"^' ^ J
clianged very effectively,
names of his dramaiU j
the personages themse ves we know of oM
Teresa, the circus girl ^ncer and d^
perado, is Higgles slightly fe"B|
Dunn, the rough representative °{tbe'a^ !
onlv a shade less lawless than those aea.nst
S„ M8 f»»ion» «• i
before under two or three altax-.. ' - f
smart expressman, is not new; andaltagether
we find ourselves in a circle of old fnends
whdse names and costumes are sIiDhtly
changer! for the occasion, but whose identity
is perfectly clear throughout their half dis
guise. What novelty there is in the per
sonages of the story is supplied by Father .
Wynn, of the First Baptist Church, Excelsior j
and his daughter Nellie, whom we do not,
remember to have met before in Mr. Bret
Harte's Western stories. Both are vigorous (
but very unpleasant portraits. Father « ynn,,
or Wvnne, for the name is spelled one way ^
in the first half of the story and the other
way in the second, is a pastor of boisterous
geniality, " who enjoyed the reputation of
being ' hale fellow well met' with 'the
rough mining element, who called them
by their Christian names, had been
known to drink at the liar of the Polka
Saloon while engaged in the conversion
of a prominent citizen, and was popularly
said to have had no 'gospel starch ' about
him. Certain conscious outcasts and
transgressors were touched at this appparent
unbending of the spiritual authority. The
ri'rid tenets of Father Wynne faith were lost
in°tlie supposed catholicity of his humanity.
' A preacher that can jine a man when he s j
histin' liquor into him, without jawin about J
it, ought to be allowed to wrestle with I
sinners and splash in as much cold water j
as he likes,' was the criticism of one of his
converts." The rev. pastor's church, built j
with the proceeds of a collection made j
by that divine in the gambling saloon,:
is described by the generous and reck
less donors as one of the biggeat
religions bluffs on record." On one occasion
we meet with the reverend gentlemen dis
cussing the growmg heat and the forest fires
which will probably result, and exhibiting
some catholic knowledge of the designs of a
Deity in that regard." To a Hasty remark of
the sheriff, accompanied by a familiar ana
thema, the pastor rejoins, *' Ah, ha 1 strong
language, Mr. Dunn, but ' out of the fulness
of the heart the mouth speaketh.' Job, sir,
cursed, we are toid, and even expressed him
self in vigorous Hebrew regardinghisbirthday.
Ha, ha! I'm not opposed to that When I have
often wrestled with the spirit I confess
I have sometimes said ' D n you. 1 es,
Birj ' d n you.' " On which we are told
" There was something so unutterably vile
in the reverend gentleman's utterance and
emphasis of this oath that the two men.
albeit both easy and facile blasphemers, felt
shocked."
The sketch of the pretty daughter of this
pious father is perhaps an even more un
pleasant portraiture than that of her father.
She is at once passionate and calculating,
but can keep the two moods quite distinct,
and after indulging in warm embraces with
her lover, the half Indian, in the Carqninez
Woods, whom she tells after embracing him,
" at least, no woman has kissed you like that,"
she is ready at a hint from her father to throw
him over without a moment's warning to
clear the way for her marriage with
Sheriff Dunn, and on the death of that
energetic official she is equally ready to
be led, as the local paper puts it, to
the " hymeneal altar," by her other wooer,
Brace, the expressman. There is something
more than heartless, and capricious, and irre
sponsible about the conduct of this young
lady, which, with all of her demure grace and
immaculate purity of manner, and her serene
indifference to the passionate devotion she
excites in the male population of the place,
makes her a specimen of cynically unscru
pulous womanhood, surpassing anything to
be found outside the pages of Balzac, while
by the facility with which she can transfer
what she calls her affections she rivals
Bhakspe&re's Cressida.
The story is well named. The strongest
and most impressive part of it is that which
passes in the Garquinez Woods. The pil
lared gloom of the great forest, the enormous
columnar trunks of the huge redwood trees,
the cleep-ehaded aisles, fhd dark tracery of
treeitops above, the obscure light beneath,
the feense of silence, and majesty, and aiwe
conveyed by the profound solitudes amid
these great shafts of Nature's mighty Cathe
dral, all this is deeply, strongly, impressed
on the reader. The forest is a fitting seme
for the.story, of which indeed it to apart* n
presence mot to be put by. We know no
nnrmtitfe?%hlch depends more on its scene,
and home in which the majestic grandeur of
a fjr^ primeval forest is more fully
and ^jjrofbuadly realised % author and
leader.
AtqT&e .pntset of the story we get.Teresa,
the wild half-Spanish circus dancer, who
has /froip' Sheriff Dunn
his (depol!r, iV whom she yaa
take* jm* •• fgti
ri^Hgilnto /the.'depths - of the
»haa.
man's " height, supple, yet erect »s
colour, and singular gravity of
This last Quality is well presened through
«t a«l enables Low Donna*,
corruption of L'Bou the young
half-blood's real name, to pass vnth ^is
dignity through some trying cn»es
Toung man agrees io give up im forestlanto
her lor a few .lays till the ardour of pjnnt
dies awav. We have nert an account of the
visit paid bv Miss Nellie Wynntober lover
in the forest, and of their warm ^emaak
ingT which are charactered by a
reSless abandonment on the side of the pri,
who goes the farther as she means orbing,
and is conscious that she as only in
dulging a passing freak of ^.on whach
will have no permanent eftects and by
restrained intensity of affecnon on the mde
of Low. In the meantime the visit of Nelly to
the woods has been marked, a ghmpse ttM
been had of Teresa, who wears an old dress
begged for her from Nellie, by the use^
plausible fiction by Low, and
causes her to be mistaken for
owner, so that a circumstantial story gets
about of very close relations between Low
and Nellie in the Carquinez wrmds. The
two other lovers of the young lady, Shenff
Dunn and Mr. Brace, determine to go
and find Low. Brace molests feat
the sheriff should go m his official
capacity to arrest Low oa some charge^
so as not to bring Miss Nellie s name into the
matter. " If he resists, kill him on the spot,
and nobodyl! blame you; if he goes peace
ablv with yon, and you once get him _ in
Excelsior gaol, when the story gets out that
he's taken the belle of Excelsior for his
squaw, if you'd the angels for your posse you
couldn't keep the boys from hanging him to
he first tree." On which, Loot
tne nrst wee. , ' ;f
Brace,'' broke in Duun ho irsely. D—^ u
I understand you or yon me. That dog Low
has got to answer to me, not ^
has got to anew ei vj — ---
I'll take my risk of killing him-on sight and
on the square. I don't reckon to handicap
on me square, *. —— . -
mrself with a warrant, and I am not going to
draw him out with a lie. ^ ion bear me 7
That's me—all the time"
Un fortunately for the success of theschemes
of the two men their talk is overheard by
Teresa, who manages in some unexplained
way to disguise herself as a Mexican packer,
and to most improbably listen to the con
versation. She steals Brace's horse and
buggy, and drives off to the forest, and they
obtain another vehicle, and give chase. On
their way they see a vehicle before them,
and drive furiously to overtake it. Dunn is
about to fire, but Brace grasps his arm.
'■' Hosb ! It's not Buckskin,' he whispered
hurriedly. 'Are you sure?" 'Don't you gee
m're oah,i»(j on him?' replied the other con
temptuously. Dunn grasped his companions
hand and pressed it silently. Even in that
supreme moment this horseman's tribute to
the fugitive Buckskin forestalled all baser con
siderations of pursuit and capture!" The
orimnal of this incident is found In an
old Arab 6tory. At the cabin of
Low, Dunn is met by Teresa, who
freelv invents fictions to turn off his anger
from Low, and in the conversation which
takes place the discovery is made that Low is
the son of Dunn by an Indian woman. In the
meantime Low has been curtly dismissed by,
Nellie, acting under the inspiration of her
reverend father. By this time it is seen that
a tragic end is approaching. We have had,
many intimations of the fierce heats, the in
creasing dryness of the forpt, the advancing
columns of smoke, and, in the end, after
Teresa has shown the dawn of a genuine af
fection in her wild, reckless nature,
has heroically laboured to save Shenff Dunn,
her old enemy, from the approaching flames,
after Low has been led to contrast the
genuine nature of bis wild
the falsehood and heartiessaessof Nelhe, all,
knots and all difficulties are loosed by the
fierce whirlwind of fire which sweeps through,
the great forest, and devours all life m its
destructive course. The local organ, the
Siumfftdlion Mirror, baa a paragraph on the
remains of "two wretched tramps and of,
the sheriff which are found m ^
and e^s by announcing that
... the!
the late j
is tor's accomplished daughter ana roe w*
mented sheriff are utterly without founda
on, as it has been an on dti for some time
l all well-informed circles that the inde
itigable Mr. Brabe, of Wdls, F««m, and
o/| Express, wiH uhortly lead the lady to
^InteU^tim^torir Mr. Harteexhibita the!
icapacity he has shown befoy? ^f
n fts ffiftererit Threads ^so as to conv^a
ense of unity and iuadity .to the 'feeder,
S one hSs to labour very hard to secure
he proper time relations of the differ^t
yente recorded. Buti cm the wh°le,.toe
itory is a strong and effective_ <»ie, wbiM
^nb hridenofijptaw »•
lowers of '
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