The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1874-01-16
CHAPTER VII.
FrLL OF rRorRIr.


The California spring does not, by a
gradual increase Of verdure, ripen into
an exhuberant summer as in the At
lantic States. On the contrary, with
the close Of May has come also the end
Of growth in grass and LEAKAGE, while
the yellow ripeness of the last of June
might be that Of the August harvest in
the East. Such pale ochre-tint is now
spread over the landscape which in
cludes the Spedden and Miles ranches.
Two or three miles away from the Miles
residence a yellow tinge OF color indi-
Gates ripened grain, and here and there
strip Of tule land bordering stream, or
q cluster OF live oaks, relieves the eye by
a darker hue Of brownish-green. On
either hand, to the east or west,
noble mountain ranges frame the
valley in with undulating, cIoud-like
masses of violet and purple, cobalt and
rose, according to distance, light and
shadow. As the cloudless sunset fades,
the full moon, an orb of dusky gold,
leans for a moment on a ridge of the ST.
erras, then mounts, Frightening and
flooding the valley with a mellow radi-
ance that blends harmoniously with
the ripe and peaceful aspect Of the whole
scene.
The summer has passed loiteringly to
Judith, to whom nothing has changed
either agreeable in the present or prom
islng for the future. Jack Miles has
only grown more dissatisfied and rest
less, more reckless and threatening in
his talk, and more arbitrary and suspi-
cious in his demeanor. Again and
again he has declared his inte ntion of
returning to Texas the moment he can
get his price for his land; falling in that,
to leave the land for Boone, and selling
off his stock, go anyway. Anything to
get out Of the cursed country. What he
is waiting for now is the return of his
son with money for the purchase of an
outfit. When Boone comes, which will
be soon, he will be independent Of the
Yankees and Dutch, and can go or stay
as he pleases, d-n them!-but he will
not
Judith has listened so often to all the
weRrisOme and heart-sickening talk
about the country, the Dutch, the Yam
KEGS, and going back to Texas, mingled
often with covert threats of revenge for
injuries inflicted by Spedden's agent,
who, in general way, was accountable
for all the rest, that she had come to
shrink from it as from physical pain.
Since thsvisit Of Mrs. Parker, in the
spring no calls had been made at the
Miles mansion except such as were Of a
purely business nature; nor had any
company set down at the Miles table,
except an occasional wayfarer who
begged to be allowed TO share the family
meal. Even Mr.. Shultz seemed to have
deserted Judith since the affair of the
shooting, by which his left arm had
been temporarily disabled, The only
reminder Of his friendship that bad
reached Judith in all these weeks was a
package OF choice periodicals, brought
bya vacquero not a native. If she snso-
ulated about the reason Of this desertion
Of her patron, it was not unnatural tI,a,
she should put that and that together
and conclude that her fathers inuendos
against Mr. Shultz's private affairs had
some foundation in fact. But sla ~,
too tenacious Of her ideal TO acknouI
edge her hero culpable, when 1t was so