The San Francisco call., 1904-03-20

only touched the glass rim to his lips.
His eyes. glistening and intent, were
on the drunkard's now darkly flushing
face. The glass ratified against the
table as Hrraey set 1t down.
THAT puts mettle into me again.
Makes mo feel like the old times be-
fore the malaria got into my bones.
Malaria was my ruin. Got 1t In the
Sierra mining. People think it's
drink that done it. but It's malaria
That was when you knew Moreau 2
What sort OF man was he?"
Poor sort not any grit. Had n
good claim up there beyond Placer
vile, he and 1. Took out 3 much as
eight thousand In that first summer.
Moreau stayed by 1t, but quit. Both
had our reasons"
And Miss Moreau, you say. is not
Dan Moreau's daughter. Is she a
stepdaughter7'
'Well--in a sort of way you might
say so. Any way, she ain't got no le-
gal right to that name"
II didn't know the mother was a
widow when she married Moreau?"
She weren't. She married twict,
and she weren't divorced. There amt
but two people In the world that
knows II. Ones Jake Shackleton's
widow, he rose, and. putting an un-
steady hand on the table, leaned for
ward sand almost whispered into his
interlocutor's face-"and the others
me-
Are you trying to tell me-" said Es-
sex quietly, that Miss Moreau is Jake
Shackleton's daughter?"
That's what she IS" The man
turned round like a character on the
stage and swept the room with an in
vestigating look-'And she's more'n
that. She's his lawful daughter, born
In wedlock."
The two faces stared at each other,
The drunken man was not too far be-
yond himself to realize the Importance
of what he was saying. In a seconds
retrospect Essex's mind flew back over
the hitherto puzzling interest Shackle-
ton had taken in Mariposa Moreau>
Could it be possible the man before
him was telling the truth?
How does she come to be known as
Moreau's daughter? Why didn't
Shackleton acknowledge her II she
was his legitimate child? That's a
fairy tale"
There was complications. Have
you ever heard that Shackleton was
cnce a Mormon?"
Essex had heard the gossip which
had persistently followed Shackletons
ascending course. He nodded his
head, gazing at Harney, a PRESENT.
ment of coming revelations holding
him silent
We'll, that's true. He wars. seen
him when he was. Jake Shackleton
crossed the Sierra with two wives.
One-the first one-was the lady who
died here a month ago, and passed as
Mrs Moreau. The others the
widow. But she was the second wife.
She didn't have no children then. But
the first wife had one, girl baby.
born on the plains in Utah. 1t weren't
three weeks old when I seen it,
Where did you see 2"
In the Sierra back Of Hangtown.
Me and Dan Moreau was workin' a.
stream bed there. And one day two
enigrants, a man and woman, with
a sick woman inside the wagon, came
down from the summit. They was
Jake Shackleton and his two wives,
and they was the worst looking outfit
you've ever clapped your eyes on.
They was pretty near dead. One er
their horses did die, in front of our
cabin, and the sick woman-she that
afterwards was called Mrs. Moreau-
Was too beat out to move on. Shack
Teton, who didn't care who died, so
longs they got into the settlements.
calkalated to make her ride a spell,
and when the other horse dropped
make her walk She was the orneri-
est looking scarecrow you ever seen,
and she hadn't no more life'n num-
my. But she was ready to do just
what they said. She was just so beat
out And then Moreau-he was just
that kind of a fool"
He paused and looked at Essex,
with his beady, dark eyes glistening
with a sense of the importance of his
communication. His hand sought the
glass and he drained it. Then he
leaned forward to deliver the climax
of his story:
Bought her from Shackleton for
pair of horses"
Bought her for a pair of horses!
How could he?"
L
sayin' what he did
What did he do it for?"
1.-The Lord knows. He was that
kind of fool. We had her in the
cabin sick for days, with me and him
waitin' on her hand and foot, and the
cussed baby yellin' like coyote. She
wasn't good for anything. Just ust ter
lie round sick and peaked and sorter
pine. But Moreau got crazy liking
for her and he was sot on the baby
same's If it was his own. 1 caught on
pretty soon to the way the cat was
goin' to jump. lit out and left EN-"
"Why did you leave if the claim was
good?"
1T weren't no good when no one
worked 1T, and there weren't more'n
enough In 1t for Moreau alone, with a
woman and a baby on his hands He
said first off he was goin' to get her
cured up and send her to the Eldora-
do Hotel to be a waitress, but 1 seen
fast enough what was goin' to hap
pen. And it did happen. They was
showed in up there all winter. In the