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this party; and some signals were made which convinced the Texan that he was wanted; and 80, without losing time in debate, he and his comrades quickened their pace, crossed the ford, and were soon alongside the farmer. A very few sentences sufficed to convey the position of affairs to the frontiersman; then, with merely an ejaculation of 'Come on, boys!' he turned his horse's head, and followed by his men, rode off at once in the direction of the hills.

'I told you I saw a white man in company with some Apachés,' said Dick, as they pushed on. The farmer assented. Wal,' continued the Texan, 'that white man has been seen with them again; and one of our boys saw him with old Seth Birrable the post-master.'

'Me see strange white man slink into back of post-office this afternoon,' said the Mexican; then he run out of front, and hide and creep in bush till he get away.'

'That Birrable is a bad un,' said the farmer. 'That is so,' assented Dick; and if any harm comes of this business to Mr Arthur, we will lynch him. I had a good mind to take him out to a tree last winter, for I know he was in those horse-robberies. But this time we will string up for sure.' A low murmur of approval from his hearers followed this speech; and the party rode on in silence.

him

The twilight was now beginning to thicken in the distance, shortening the perspective; and as if spurred on by the nearness of night, both horses and men bent to their work with a vigour. They were going over the rough ground with wonderful speed. All at once the Texan, keenly scanning the country towards the hills, suddenly exclaimed, pointing to an open patch which lay between two jutting piles of rocks and mounds: By snakes! there's Señor Arthur! You see his gray horse?'

One or two others of the party declared they could just make out in the dim light the figure of a horseman; but from the distance, it was impossible to feel certain. Dick was positive, however, and rising in his stirrup, he gave a loud and peculiar halloo.

'He heard me!' cried the Texan. 'I saw him turn his horse round. Now he goes on again.' A second time the shrill halloo arose; but it was impossible to decide whether the sound reached the rider or not.

Suddenly Cipriano the Mexican cried: 'Señor Gaisford! there is firing in the foot-hills. I hear a shot just now.'

The Mexican is right!' exclaimed Dick, after a brief, painful pause. I heard shots again. Push on, boys! Don't spare your horses!'

Nor did they; and the ground being fortunately level in itself, although of course with an upward slope, they made rapid progress. They had approached nearly to the last spur forming the boundary of the broken country, and were about to enter the pass into which they had seen Arthur ride, when suddenly they heard several other shots fired, and were even near enough to see the flashes.

'Give a shout, boys!' said the Texan; 'it will cheer our friends and frighten our enemies. Now for it!'

The 'boys' complied, and two or three tremen

dous yells rang through the night, which must have penetrated far beyond the cañon from which the firing proceeded.

CHAPTER VIII.-CONCLUSION.

It was indeed Arthur whom Texas Dick had seen a few minutes before entering the defile far ahead of them. Till then, the young Englishman's ride had been quite uneventful, and the only cause for anxiety which occurred to him was the rapid approach of nightfall while he had still the roughest and most uneven portion of his route before him. As he rode into the defile through which he was now passing, the twilight became deeper, from the narrowness of the pass and the height of the rocks on each side of him. He had therefore to concentrate his attention on the difficult path over which his horse was picking its way; and it was only after he had ridden right into the pass that something startled him, and he looked eagerly up and around. His quick eye made him fancy that he saw something move where the shadows were darkest, and he shouted to know if any human being were there. For a moment, as he listened, there was no response, no murmur, no flap of night-hawk's wing to break the gloomy silence; then, all at once, a flash lit up the rocks just in front of him, and a report followed. Instantly he drew his own revolver, but as he did so, two more bright flashes dazzled him; a stunning shock told him he was hit, while his horse fell dead under him, shot through the head.

When Arthur and his horse fell, three heads, cautiously lifted above a parapet of rock, witnessed the effect of the volley.

'Bueno! my boys!' exclaimed one, a white man-Señor Tony; he is down; but I doubt if he is dead. Hurry to him; finish your work, and the fifty dollars and the keg are yours to-night.'

The Indians gave a grunt of assent, and springing to their feet, were emerging from the rocks behind which they stood, when Pedro stopped as suddenly as though he had been petrified.

'What is the matter?' exclaimed the impatient white man. 'Lose no time, or he will recover, and give us trouble.'

'Oye! Listen!' said Pedro.

come!'

'Cavallos!-horses

Tony listened. He heard, surely enough, the gallop of a horse, and at the rate it was travelling, it was plain it would be within the defile directly.

"There is only one,' whispered Tony. 'Fire as he comes out of the shade. But the Indians either considered that this was not in the bond, or, as was more likely, were unwilling to run any fresh risks; so the party listened to the gallop of the rapidly approaching rider. As they did so, to Tony's alarm he heard Arthur groan and move; signs that he was regaining his conscious

ness.

'Another moment,' he muttered, 'and he will be on his feet, and ready to fight.'

The deadened clatter of the horse's hoofs as it came through the gorge was now changed to a clearer ring; the rider had gained the open space, and was free from the close reverberation of the rocky pass.

'What do I see?' exclaimed Tony. A woman! Rachel!' Next moment, turning to the Indians, he said: 'Don't hurt her; but take her horse, so that she can't hurry back. The fond fool! to come here.'

In the meantime, Rachel had come near enough to see the prostrate figures of Arthur and the horse. With a slight and instantly repressed scream, she reined up, and leaped from her pony. The Indians, who had now cleared the ridge, gave a hideous shout and rushed down the slope towards her; but the delay, brief as it had been, was fatal to their purpose. Their shout was answered with whoops from the opposite side of the gorge, and three flashes at once broke forth from the darkness behind the girl, and the bullets which followed them struck the rocks against which the Apachés could be seen descending. The Indians immediately turned and fled, disappearing in an instant among the rocks.

Before Rachel had time to realise the terrible situation in which she stood, she heard a deep guttural voice behind her exclaim: 'Señorita Rachel, yo Cuervo!' [I am Cuervo !]

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"Thank heaven!' cried the girl, as she turned round and saw the friendly Uté. Oh, come to me, Cuervo; Señor Arthur is dying!' The next instant, Cuervo and his two stalwart sons were by her side, assisting to disengage Arthur from his dead horse. The young man was able to speak as they did so, and to assure Rachel that he was not seriously hurt.

As he spoke, the sudden clatter of a body of horse was heard upon the stony ground close by; and then, with loud shouts, the party under the farmer and Texas Dick rode up. The men immediately dismounted; lights were struck, and Rachel was in the arms of her father. It seemed that the courage which had sustained her so long, deserted her all at once, for she clung to her father and sobbed hysterically.

There was little time, however, for the indulgence of sentiment, because, as Texas Dick said: "There ain't no telling where the scallawags may be, or how many of 'em. First thing we know may be a shot, so we will make tracks.'

The dead horse having been quickly stripped of its saddle and headgear, and Arthur mounted behind one of the party, Cuervo and his sons being similarly accommodated, they at once rode off.

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and his sons had been in the foot-hills, where they discovered Tony in consultation with the Apachés. Lurking behind a convenient tree, Cuervo overheard that a plot was on foot to decoy Arthur thither that night and kill him. He accordingly went down into the plains, and meeting Cipriano, who, he knew, was often at the Gaisford Ranche, gave him the message which the Mexican had faithfully tried to deliver; then returning, the Utés determined to watch Tony and his confederates.

Not daring to follow the latter too closely, Cuervo had slightly mistaken the direction in which they entered the broken country, so was for a time thrown out. He and his sons, however, had a pretty sure guess as to the spot where the ambuscade would be laid, and they had just worked their way to its vicinity when they heard the first shots. Directly afterwards, Miss Rachel passed them, galloping in the direction of the firing. They followed her, and would have been by her side in a couple of minutes; but the whoop of the Apachés, as they descended the rocks, told to Indian ears that no time was to be lost, and that even the two minutes could not be risked. they fired as truly as they could in the direction of Tony's yelling accomplices.

So

Rachel's arrival had clearly saved Arthur's life, by alarming the suspicious Apachés. But for this, even Cuervo's intervention would have been too late. Arthur, in spite of his wound-for he had experienced a very narrow escape, a bullet having ploughed its track along his scalp-found an opportunity for saying as much to Rachel, as they rode through the darkness towards the Holt Ranche, where they arrived to find the farmer lost in wonder as to where Dick and his men could be gone.

On hearing details of the expedition, Mr Holt became excessively wroth, and vowed he would not rest until the mean trash of whites and the bad Indians were hunted out of the neighbourhood.

"They say this white man is known; in fact, it's certain,' interposed Texas Dick, on his employer pausing for an instant.

Who is he?' demanded the farmer. 'If he's alive in the territory after to-morrow, he will have to hide pretty close, for I'll hunt him as if he was a wild-cat.'

'Wal, then, it's your other nephew, Tony,' said Dick bluntly. There's a good many of the boys who mean to draw a trigger on him at sight, so you can leave him to them.'

Holt was literally staggered at hearing this, for he reeled and caught at a chair. If he were ten times my nephew,' he exclaimed at last, after a pause which was very painful to every one present, he dies if I meet him.-But tell me now, some of you, what ground you have for saying this murderer was Anthony Derring.'

All this took place in a fraction of the time required for its narration; and it was not till the party had got out of reach of further attack, that Cuervo began to explain how he had arrived so opportunely. Reducing his narrative to the plainest and briefest form, it appeared that he had long been expecting some such attack upon Arthur, as he had seen Señor Tony in company with two Apachés when the rest of the tribe This testimony was soon forthcoming; and it were on the hunt; and these Apachés being appeared from the remarks made during the frequently intoxicated, had dropped words which narration, that the young man in question had fired the suspicions of Cuervo. He had learned once been a resident at the Holt Ranche, where enough to assure him that Arthur would be he was high in favour with the farmer, and looked waylaid on a particular night, which, as the reader upon himself, there was little doubt, as Mr Holt's will guess, was the night when the Uté had destined heir. His conduct, however, had grown presented himself with his sons so unexpectedly, very bad, far exceeding, indeed, the tolerably and acted as body-guard to Arthur until the wide latitude allowed out West;' and finally, latter was in safety. On this present day, Cuervo | being conclusively proved to have taken part

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a serious robbery, while he was suspected of an attempt to waylay Mr Holt himself, the farmer dismissed him, with a handsome present, however, to keep him from the necessity of resorting to evil courses. It was indeed to supply his place,

that Mr Holt had written for Arthur.

Tony had probably thought that his banishment would not last long; but when he found a successor to himself installed at the ranche, he considered that the situation had grown more serious, and that his only chance of restoration to favour lay in his getting rid of the interloper, and keeping his own share in the blood-guiltiness a secret from his uncle. This achieved, it was highly probable that if Tony presented himself pologetic and penitent at the nick of time, the farmer would relent, and all would be well.

One sentiment seemed to pervade the whole of the men, and this was, that Birrable the postmaster was a dangerous character who must be cleared out. In this connection, it will be sufficient to observe that Birrable must either have received warning or taken fright; for on the very next morning his office was found to be closed when the mail-cart came in, and he himself was never seen or heard of again unless indeed the report of a man from the Nevada mines could be relied on. This man came into the neighbourhood a year or so later, and declared that he had assisted at the 'lynching' of Birrable, who, under another name, had been a source of trouble at the narrator's mining-camp for many months.

Meanwhile, Squire Holt did not slacken in his anger or turn from his purpose; he lost no time in advising the 'boys' of the district, of Tony's plot to decoy and murder Arthur Richmond; and a hot pursuit was instituted in quest of the messenger who brought the false instructions to Arthur, Birrable the postmaster, and Tony himself. But vain was the search in tach case. Birrable had fled, as already explained; the messenger was a stranger; while the closest iry for fifty miles round revealed no trace of Tony. But some months afterwards, when all interest in the pursuit had flagged, and Tony's dings and himself were in a fair way of being forgotten, a horrible story, told by some men who had been recently through the Indian territory, brought him vividly to every mind.

shown it to the captains of his tribe, and these had followed the murderer, and duly revenged the slaughter of their comrade.

Thus perished Señor Tony; at all events, if the report of the traders were untrue, he never appeared to contradict it; while one or two articles, known to have belonged to the young man, were at various times seen in the possession of some of the Apaché squaws.

It was not long after the events related, that Mr Holt, being thoroughly satisfied with the fitness of Arthur to assist him, and, in short, having taken a very great liking to the young man, desired him to send for his mother and the remainder of her family; a summons which almost frightened Mrs Richmond to death, so terrible seemed the idea of crossing the Atlantic. But it was evident that she had virtually no choice; her son's letter was so earnest, the advice of her friends was so emphatic, the advantages of the removal so unmistakable, that she was compelled to go, although with much gloomy presentiment, and with many sighs and tears. She found, as others before her have found, that the making up her mind was the worst part of the business, and that it was possible even for her to survive a long sea-voyage.

'We shall see a great change in Arthur, I have no doubt,' she was fond of remarking to her eldest daughter as the ship shortened the distance between them and him. She was more correct in this than even she herself supposed. At anyrate, with all her presentiments, and with all her belief in the change that a foreign life must have worked in her son, she was not quite prepared for his meeting her at Kansas City in company with an exceedingly pretty young lady, or for the pretty speech: Mother dear, this is my wife, Rachel. I am sure you will love her.'

This she did very soon, and very dearly. But as poor Mrs Richmond, dowager, often said, when in time to come she had found sympathising neighbours to whom she could say it 'When he said this, you really might have knocked me down with a feather.'

BOOK GOSSIP.

THERE are some people who spend every availThese men camped in the vicinity of the able hour which they can spare from other duties, Gaisford Ranche, to rest their cattle for a day in what is to them the delightful luxury of or two, and told how they had seen Miguel the reading. They read in the morning, and they Apaché, whom they knew, in company with some read in the evening; they read in company, Cther men of his tribe. These Indians had a and they read in solitude; they read within good deal of money, and traded with the white doors, and they read without doors; they read men who now told the story. It possibly hap- at board, and they read in bed. Walking and xed in the course of this trading that some Whisky changed hands; at anyrate, Miguel got reading, also, are two performances often cartoxicated, and in his drunken bravado exhibited ried on conjointly, though the practice is scalp, not long taken from its owner's head, not to be commended as good in any sense; which he boasted was the scalp of a white man, but less fault is to be found with that other cho big chief.' He also showed various practice of pulling out a book and perusing it trophies, amongst others a leathern purse, which, while we rest during our walk. To those who Le boasted, had been full of dollars. And inside indulge in this habit, neat small editions-litethis was written, 'Anthony Derring. Miguel, rally pocket editions'-of good works are always ing in the loquacious mood of drunkenness, though usually the most silent of Indians, acceptable; and to such we would commend xplained that this hombre Americano' [this what is called "The Familiar Quotations Series of Yankee man] had shot his brother Pedro; that Books,' published by Whittaker & Co., London. 1, Miguel, had dragged the body away, and This series, besides those volumes which give it

its title, such as Familiar Latin and French Quotations, &c., contains a number of well-known and interesting books. There are, for instance, Charles Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare; J. B. Selkirk's Bible Truths with Shakspearian Parallels; Dr Johnson's philosophical romance of the Abyssinian prince, Rasselas; De Quincey's wonderful Confessions of an English Opium-eater; and many others. The volumes are small and handy in form, printed in good type, and cheap-three qualities which should commend them to many readers, especially those of the pedestrian order.

tends to nothing beyond being a useful and handy guide to the game of bowling, and in so doing it pretends to nothing more than its contents will justify.

We have from time to time drawn the attention of our readers to the publication of books intended for the simplification and advancement of science-knowledge; and in this category of useful and compendious works must be classed that of Dr Andrew Wilson, F.R.S.E., entitled Leaves from a Naturalist's Note-book (London: Chatto and Windus). The book, as the author points out, is made up of a series of sketches, Of all games in this country, Bowling, as compiled chiefly because of the existence of a practised out of doors, is among the most inno- growing taste on the part of the cultured public for a knowledge of the objects in which the cent and least harmful, in every sense. Yet this naturalist professess an interest. While such agreeable pastime as practised indoors had at one books are essentially imperfect in point of fullness time a very bad name, so much so, that certain and exhaustiveness, they at the same time serve Acts of parliament had to be launched against a purpose which more full and exhaustive treatises it. Nor were even these discharges of legal would fail to accomplish, in so far as they engage artillery sufficient to check the evils of gambling the interest of the non-scientific reader, and may with which the fair character of the game had in many cases lead the way and prepare the mind become tainted. In the time of Henry VIII. the for higher scientific studies. In consistence with game was classed among unlawful amusements, the object which the author had in view, there and bowling-alleys were proscribed by statutes is nothing in this little volume which any reader which were directed against all who either played of average intelligence might not comprehend, in such places or kept them for profit. It was while there is much which even readers of some allowable, however, for artisans and servants to degree of scientific culture will heartily appreciate play at the game during Christmas-time in their and enjoy. In addition to chapters devoted to masters' houses and presence; while persons who such subjects as jelly-fishes, the threads and were worth more than one hundred pounds per thrums' of spider-existence, skates and rays, annum might obtain a license for playing within whales and their neighbours, kangaroos, barnacles, their own domain. But notwithstanding these and flies, there are papers of a more general kind, restrictions the game still retained its popularity, treating of such subjects as the office of science and worked as much evil as before. Writing in the elucidation of crime and the convic some forty years after the above Acts were passed, tion of the criminals; the exposure of medical an English author says that 'common bowling-quackery; scientific ghosts; food and fasting, and alleys are privy moths that eat up the credit of the like. The diversity, within certain limits, many idle citizens, whose gains at home are not able to weigh down their losses abroad; whose shops are so far from maintaining their play, that their wives and children cry out for bread, and go to bed supperless often in the year.'

The game, however, as practised in the open air, has long since cleared itself of any such stigma as anciently attached to its indoor cousin, and is now, as already said, as much dissociated from any idea of vicious betting or gambling as any game of skill can possibly be. For those who are unable to engage in the more active athletic exercises, bowling is at once a safe and an agreeable recreation, as is testified by its numerous votaries, who derive pleasure and mild relaxation from the pastime. Like other games of skill, it has its code of laws, written and unwritten; and a knowledge of these laws by the frequenters of bowling-greens and by members of bowling-clubs, is the best preventive of misunderstandings, and saves the unnecessary cropping-up of disputed ends.' An excellent little book on the laws and rules of the game is the Manual of Bowl-playing, by W. W. Mitchell, Millport (London and Manchester: John Heywood). It contains the laws of the game, rules for bowling-clubs, suggestions for the making and keeping of greens, and an appendix giving the results of the chief tournaments and matches during the last few years. The little book pre

of the subjects treated in the book is such as to render it scarcely possible for any one to take it up even for a few spare minutes without finding something to interest, instruct, or

amuse.

John B. Gough is well remembered in this country as one of the most powerful lecturers that ever spoke on the subject of temperance. At the time of this American orator's first propaganda, the effect of his prelections here was marvellous; and if, on his second visit to this country a few years ago, he filled a less distinguished position in the public mind, this was due not so much any falling-off of power in the orator, as to the fact that temperance agencies and temperance arguments are much more common and better understood now than they were twenty-five years ago. Since his return to America, two years since, Mr Gough has been engaged in writing an account of his life-work, embracing the experience of thirty-seven years on the platform and among the people at home and abroad. The book deals largely with his experiences in this country in 1878, and with the various prominent temperance advocates whom he met in London and elsewhere. Much of the book is taken up with sketches of London life, some of them exceedingly graphic, many of the anecdotes told being pointed and

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amusing. There is a story referring to the tricks of professional beggars. A man was standing with a board in front of him, with the inscription, 'I am blind,' when a gentleman threw a shilling on the ground; the blind man instantly picked it up. The gentleman said: "Why, I thought you were blind. The fellow, after a moment's hesitation, looked at the board, and then said: 'I'm bless'd if they haven't made a mistake, and put a wrong board on me this morning! I'm deaf and dumb!'

THE MONTH.

SCIENCE AND ARTS.

THE Suez Canal, which represents the greatest engineering triumph of the present century, is found to be inadequate for its designed purposes. The traffic at present amounts to three million as of shipping annually; and owing to the development of Chinese and Australian commerce ad to other causes, it is constantly on the herease. As many as fifty ships are occasionally threading the passage of the Canal at one time; and when it is remembered that these vessels can only pass one another at certain points-like railway trains on a single line of metals-it can be imagined what tedious and costly delays are constantly the rule. These difficulties form the subject of a highly interesting contribution to the Times newspaper from a correspondent, who as gone over the ground with a view to noting them and suggesting possible remedies. He points out that the plan of widening the waterway throughout would be inadvisable, on Account of the enormous expense which it would tail; and dwells rather on the recommendata that the gares or passing stations should be greatly increased in number. He also advises that the stone casing of the banks-at present in progress to prevent the sandy sides shelving into the water, should be actively pushed on, so that ships, which are now limited to a certain speed, ld travel through more quickly without any risk of injury to the banks from their wash. He ally suggests that the Canal should be bought p by the different nations using it, instead of being left in the hands of a private Company. England would have to pay the lion's share; for Ler ships are as four to one of those which pass Enler other flags.

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Another international highway-the Tunnel beneath the English Channel-continues to excite lively interest both among engineers and politrans. There is one difficulty to be surmounted, uliar to all similar works of excavation, that is, the question of efficient ventilation. ne statistics were recently brought before the German Society of Engineers bearing upon the Ventilation of the St Gothard Tunnel, from which appears that in spite of its mountainous positon, where the outside air must be of the purest escription, the workmen suffered severely from the rapid deterioration of the air which they Breathed. In the Mont Cenis Tunnel, things seem to be quite as bad; for the engine-men are furnished with mouth-tubes, through which they can breathe from a reservoir of fresh air which they carry with them. With these facts in view, it would seem that if the Channel Tunnel below the bottom of the sea is ever completed, the chief

problem in turning it to practical account will remain to be solved.

It would appear that London with all its smoke, and consequent fog, is a far more healthful city to dwell in than Paris with its noted clear atmosphere. The chief of the Prefecture of the Seine, Dr Bertillon, recently issued some statistics showing that the Paris death-rate-which ought, from the small proportion of young children and elderly persons, to be considerably lower than that of the British Metropolis-is in reality much higher. After making allowance for the difference of ageconstitution in the population of the two places, we find that for every hundred deaths in London, the Parisians register one hundred and twentyeight. From these figures we may judge that whatever things they may do in France better than we do, they must be behind us in sanitary matters.

M. Muntz assures us of the somewhat startling fact that all natural water contains alcohol, though in an infinitesimal proportion. In riverwater the proportion is about one-thousandth; in sea-water about the same; but in cold rainwater the proportion of spirit is rather greater. Though we have on a former occasion hinted at the presence of alcohol in pure cold water, M. Muntz is said to have confirmed it by means of apparatus which he has specially devised for the purpose.

The impetus given to gas illumination by the serious competition of electricity has borne fruit in the substitution of brilliant lamps in many of the London thoroughfares for the inefficient glimmering burners previously in use. Indeed, it has often been remarked that we never knew what gas could do for us in this way until electricity threatened to beat it out of the field. A new form of gas-light, the 'regenerative' burner of Messrs Siemens, is now on its trial in Holborn; and judging from the effect obtained, its success is assured. In this lamp, the products of combustion, instead of passing away as waste vapour, are again passed through the flame. In this way the burner is not only constantly fed with a supply of warm air of its own creation, but every particle of the illuminating portion of the gas is consumed, and therefore turned to the best account. bright light is thus secured with a minimum consumption of gas.

A very

Professor Ayrton's lecture on Electric Railways before the Royal Institution dealt with much that must have been new to the majority of his hearers. After stating that the whole question was one of cost, and depended upon whether electric transmission of power could be made cheaper than any other known system, he proceeded to point out various disadvantages attached to existing railways. The weight of a locomotive equals that of six carriages loaded with passengers, so that its mass adds fifty per cent. to the horsepower necessary to propel the carriages alone. This weight cannot be reduced, or the drivingwheels would fail to grip the rails. Another still more serious result of employing such a heavy motor as an ordinary engine is, that the line throughout its bridges and all its partsmust be made of great strength, and consequently at much greater cost than if there were locomotive to consider. The advantages of an electric motor are in comparison very great; for

no

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