Will Irwin

“ I SAW Buckskin Joe once more before I left. Unless I meet him somewhere among the outer nebulæ, carrying the purposes of the Creator to new peoples of new-made worlds, I shall never see him again; for two years later he passed from sleep to Mary Stewart. He and Charlie sat on the piazza. His hand was on Charlie's knee, and they were gazing southward toward that range of hills which curtained their sight from Sonoma—decayed Sonoma, dreaming among her vines. ”

“ The Lord of Life, who implants some loves for his own laughter, was playing with these two. Their souls yearned for each other, while tastes, training, circumstances drew them apart. Which force would have conquered, had they played the game to the end—who can guess? The Lord of Peace intervened. One spring Buckskin Joe came across the hills into Sonoma, and found that she was dead. Charlie Stewart was gone, none knew where. The neighbors led him over to the churchyard of Mission Sonoma and showed him her grave. ”

“ Living with tribe after tribe of friendly Indians, they traveled West for two years until they reached a range of giant mountains, far across which, the Indians said, lay the ocean. They saw white men at a distance, stalked them Indian-fashion, and found that they were Spaniards. The tradition of Spanish cruelty was a bugbear of the frontier. Assured that this was Spanish or Mexican territory, the party turned back and returned to Kentucky. At the time when he told me his story, Buckskin Joe was the first man then alive who ever looked from the Sierra upon California. ”