THE OUTCASTSOF POKER FLATBY BRET. MARTE

As Mr. John Oakhurst, gambler, stepped Into themain street of Poker Flat on the morning of the 23dof November, 1850, he was conscious of a change In hismoral atmosphere since the preceding night. Two orthree men. conversing earnestly together, ceased as heapproached, and exchanged significant glances. Therewas a Sabbath lull in the air, which. In a settlementunused to Sabbath influences, looked ominous.

Mr. Oakhurst's calm, handsome race betrayed smallconcern in these indications. Whether he was con-scious of any predisposing cause was another question."Ireckon they're after somebody," he reflected: "likelyIt's me." He returned to his pocket the handkerchiefwith which he had been whipping away the red dustof Poker Flat from his neat boots, and quietly dis-charged his mind of any further conjecture.

In point of fact. Poker Flat was -after somebody."Ithad lately suffered the loss of several thousand dol-lars, two valuable horses, and a prominent citizen. Itwas experiencing a spasm of virtuous reaction, quiteas lawless and ungovernable as any of the acts thathad provoked it. A secret committee had determinedto rid the town of all Improper persons. This was donepermanently in regard of two men who were thenHanging from the boughs of a sycamore in the gulch,and temporarily in the banishment of certain other ob-jectionable characters. Iregret to say that some ofthese were ladies. It is but due to the sex. however, tostate that their impropriety was professional, and itwas only in such easily established standards of cviithat Poker Flat ventured to sit in Judgment.i

Mr. Oakhurst was right in supposing that he was in-cluded in this category. A few of the committee hadurge<i hanging him as a possible example and a puremet.|>d of reimbursing themselves from his pockets ofthe sums he had won from them. "It's agin Justice,"said Jim Wheeler, "to let this yer young man fromKoarlng Camp—an entire stranger— away ourmoney. But a crude sentiment of equity residing inthe breasts of those who had been, fortunate enough towin from Mr. Oakhurst overruled this narrower localprejudice.

Mr, Oakhurst received his sentence with philo-sophic calmness, none the less coolly that he was awareof the hesitation of his Judges. He was too much of agambler not to accept fate. With him life was at bestan uncertain game, and he recognized the usual per-centage in favor of the dealer.i

A .bod y of armed men accompanied the deportedwickedness of Poker Flat to the outskirts of the set-tlement. Besides Mr. Oakhurst, who was known to bea coolly desperate man, and for whose intimidation thearmed escort was intended, the expatriated party con-sisted of a young woman familiarly known .as "TheDuchess ;another who had won the title of "MotherBhlpton :and "Uncle Billy."a suspected sluice robberand confirmed drunkard. The cavafcade provoked nocomments from the spectators, nor was any word ut-tered by the escort. Only when the gulch which markedthe uttermost limit of Poker Flat was reached, theleader spoke briefly and to the point. The exiles wereforbidden to return at the peril of their lives.

As the escort disappeared their pent-up feelingsfound vent Ina few hysterical tears from the Duchess,some bad language from Mother Shlpton. and a Par-thian volley of expletives from Uncle Billy. The philo-sophic Oakhurst alone remained silent. He listenedcalmly to Mother Shlpton's desire to cut somebody'sheart out, to the repeated statements of the Duchessthat she would die in the road, and to the alarmingoaths that seemed to be bumped out of Uncle Billy ashe rode forward. With the easy gooJ-humor character-12V.C of.hls class, he insisted upon exchanging his ownriding horse. "Five Spot." for the sorry mule uponwhich the Duchess rode. But even this act did notdraw the party into any closer sympathy. The youngwoman readjusted her somewhat bedraggled plumeswith a feeble, faded coquetry: Mother Shlpton eyed thepossessor of "Five Spot" with malevolence, and UncleBilly Included the whole party in one sweeping anath-

The road to Sandy Bar— camp ttiat. not having asyet experienced the regenerating influences of PokerFlat, consequently seemed to offer some invitation tothe emigrants— lay over a steep mountain range. 1..was distant a day's severe travel. In that advancedseason the party soon passed out of the moist, temper-ate regions of the foothills into the dry. cold bracingair of the Sierras. The trail was narrow and difficult.At noon the Duchess, rollingout of her saddle upon theground, declared her Intention of going no farther, andthe party halted.

The spot was singularly wild and Impressive. Awooded amphitheater, surrounded on three sides byprecipitous cliffs of naked granite, sloped gently, towardthe crest of another precipice that overlooked the val-ley. It was. undoubtedly, the most suitable spot for acamp, had camping been advisable. But Mr. Oakhurstknew that scarcely half the journey to Sandy Bar wasaccomplished and the party was not equipped or pro-visioned for delay This fact he pointed out to his com-panions curtly with a philosophic commentary on the£?«&* «V,V11™Winfl

vuP their hand before the game wasplayed out But they were furnished with liquor.which in this emergency stood them in stead of food,i?iLles,«»a? d Pr*s?ience,- In spite of his remonstrancesit was not long before they were more or less under ItsInfluence.

«Uncl% Billypassed rapidly from a belli- 11V&%£\u2666?,„ n%m f

tstupor - th,e Duchess became maudlin,and Mother Shlpton snored. Mr. Oakhurst alone re-mained erect, leaning against a rock, calmly surveying

i^Jfr;;™"^?^ dld .not.drlnk-Tt Interfered with aprofession "which required coolness, imp.-issiveness andpresence of mind, and, in his own language, he "couldn'tafford it. As he gazed at his recumbent fellow exiles,

the loneliness begotten of his pariah-trade, his habits oflife, his very vices, for the first time seriously op-pressed him. He bestirred himself in dusting his blackclothes, washing his hands and face, and other actscharacteristic of his studiously neat habits, and formoment forgot his annoyance. The thought of desert-ing his weaker and more pitiable companions never per-haps occurred to him. Yet he could not help feeling thewant of that excitement which, singularly enough wasmost conducive to that calm equanimity for which hewas notorious. He looked at the gloomy walls that rosea thousand feet sheer above the circling pines aroundhim, at the sky ominously clouded, at the valley belowalready deepening into shadow; and, doing so suddenlyhe heard his own name called.

'

A horseman slowly ascended £he trail. In the freshopen face- of the: newcomer Mr. Oakhurst recognized'Tom Simson, otherwise known as "The Innocent

"ofBandy Bar. Ho had met him some months before overa "little game," and had, with perfect equanimity, won

the entire fortune—amounting to some forty dollars—of. that guileless <youth. Alter the game was finished.

Mr. Oakhurst drew the youthful speculator behind thedoor and thus addressed him: "Tummy, youlittle man. but you can't gamble worm ii cent. li.m'ttry It over again." He then handed him his moneytack, pushed him wntlyfrom the roum, and so made adevoted slave of Tom Simeon.

There was a remembrance of this In his hoyi«=h andenthusiastic greetingof Mr. < 'akhurst. He hart started,be aafd, to go to Poker Flat to seek his fortune.Alone?' \\o, not exactly (done; in fact fa gleple), hehad run away with Plney Woods. Didn't Mr. Oakhurstremember Plney? She that used to wait on th« tableat the Temperance House? They had been engaged alons time, but old Jake Woods had objected, und sothey had run away, and were going to Poker Fiat tobe married, and here they were. And they were tlridout. and how lucky It was they had found a place tocamp and company. All this the Innocent delivered.rapidly, while Piney, a stout, comely damsel of IS,emerged from behind the pine tree, where she hnd beenblushing unseen, and rode to the side of her lover.

Mr. Oakhurst seldom troubled him?. If with senti-ment, still less with propriety; but he had a vague ideathat the situation was not furtunate. He retained,however, his presence of mind sufficiently to kl-k UncleBilly,who was about to say something, and Uncle Billywas sober enough to recognize in Mr. Or.khurst's kick asuperior power that would not bear trilling. He thenendeavored to dissuade Tom Slmson from delaying fur-ther, but in vain. He even pointed out the fact tnntthere was no provision, nor moans of making a camp.But. unluckily, the Innocent met this objection bj as-suring the party that he was provided with an extramule loaded with provisions, and by the discovery of arude attempt at a log house near the trail. "Piney canstay with Mrs. Oakhurst." said the Innocent, pointingto the Duchess, "and 1 can shift f'>r ttv.

Nothing but Mr. Oakhur-st's admonishing foot savedI'ncle Billyfrom bursting into a roar of laughter. As itwas. he felt compelled to retire up the canyon until hecould recover his gravity. There he confided tli«s ioketo the tall pine trees, with many slaps of oiltortions of his face, and the usual profanity. But whenhe returned to the party, he found them seated by a lire—for the air had grown strangely chill and the skyovercast— ln apparently amicable conversation. Pineywas actually talking In an impulsive, girlish fashion tothe Duchess, who was listening with an interest andanimation she had not shown for many days. The In-nocent was holding forth, apparently with equalto Mr. Oakhurst and Mother Shipton. who was actuallyrelaxing into amiability. "Is this yer a d^-d p;said Uncle Billywith toward scorn, as he surveyed thesylvan group, the glancing firelight, and the telanimals in the foreground. Suddenly an Idea mingledwith the alcoholic fumes that disturli.l bis brain. Itwas apparently of a Jocular nature, for he. felt impelledto slap his leg again and cram his fist Into his mouth.

As the shadows crept slowly up the mountain, aslight breeze rocked the tops of the pine trees andmoaned through their long and gloomy aisles Theruined cabin, patched and covered wrtn pine boughs,was °et apart for the ladles. As the lovers parted, theyunaffectedly exchanged a kiss, so honest and sincerethat it might have been heard above the swaying pinesThe frail Duchess and the malevolent Mother Rhipton\u25a0were probably too stunned to rerrfftrk upon this lastevidence of simplicity, and so turned without a word tothe hut. The fire was replenished, the men lay downbefore the door, and in a few minutes were asloep.

Mr. Oakhurst was a light sleeper. Toward morninghe awoke benumbed and cold. As he stirred the dyingfire, the wind, which was now blowing stronglybrought to his cheek that which caused the blood toleave It

—snow!

He started to his feet with the Intention of awak-ening the sleepers, for there was no time to lose. Hutturning to where Uncle Billyhad been lying, he foundhim gone. A suspicion leaped to his brain and a curseto his lips. He ran to the spot where the mules hadbeen tethered; they were no longer there. The trackswere already fast disappearing in the snow.

The momentary excitement brought Mr. Oakhursiback to the fire with his usual calm. He did not wakenthe sleepers. The Innocent slumbered peacefully, witha smile on his good-humored, freckled face; the virginPlney slept beside her frailer sisters as sweetly asthough attended by celestial guardians, and Mr. Oak-hurst, drawing his blanket over his shoulders, strokedhis mustaches and waited for the dawn. Jt came slowlyIn a whirlingmist of snowflakes that dazzled and con-fused the eye. What could be seen of the landscape ap-peared magically changed. He looked over the valleyand summed up the present and future In two words—"Snowed in!"

A careful inventory of the provisions, which, fortun-ately for the party, had been stored within the hut. andco escaped the felonious fingers of Uncle Billy,disclosedthe fact that with care and prudence they might last

vnnr,

fltta IC!lwr ftTnat fs '

" *&m Mr- Oakhurst. sottoyou? n?n\ «1^nocen, '

"lfyou.'re_ billingto board us If

Ull lffi^mnwl!!Sf1S yy£Ut\ £etter «*-*<» ™n waitnVWw ttiiiy gt-ts i-ack with provisions." For somedisck^e rn^.7 1 H-, ?»"»»"»« co"ld not bring himself o»J . t nele Billy's rascality, and so off.-red the hv-KBStaffir^JlS £&Zr&r

*f,rom the 'aS and hidBcciaentally stampeded the animals. He dropped a

cVrr1:;: I". t'L D!icheSS ftndK

Mother Shipton. Pwho of

"ThHv-ii 2e!r tho facts of thelr associate's defection,

out /nvthini?.UlthV,r . ?ut us all when the findlo^^felng^th^m^no^ 1 11^''"and there

'8 no

d«sPTor, mx?n "Ass^bu1?1 his wnn<">' "tore at thedisposal of Mr. Oakhurst. but he seemed to enjoy theprospect of their enforced seclusion. "We'll have agood camp for a week, and then the snow '11 melt, andwe 11 all go back together." The cheerful gayety of theyoung man and Mr..lakhursfs calm infected the otS

noHzPd 2 Jh'",'^' Wlth the ald of plne boughs, exter-npiatchifor.Jhe roofless cabin.' and tne Duchess

with«to ty

An. the rearrangement of the interior

nrnvinJ ite a^ tact that OP*™* the Dlue eyes of that0 1 .0,1 maiden to their fullest extent. "I reckonT>iZJOU-&c Vfcdu to flne ltliTie9 at Poker Flat.' said

.v, fJ"*.

he uchess turned away to conceal somethingthat reddened her cheeks through her professional tint,and Mother Shipton requested Piney not to "chatter.-But when Mr. Oakhurst returned from a weary searchfor the trail, he heard the sound of happy laughterechoed from the rocks. He stopped in some alarm, andhis thoughts first naturally reverted to the whisky.Which he had prudently cached. "And yet it don'tsomehow sound like whisky," said the gambler. It was-nil

u.n,:1 he caught sight of the blazing tire through thestill blinding storm and the group around it that hesettled to the conviction that it was "square fun"

\u2666vWhether Mr. Oakhurst had cached his cards withthe whisky as something debarred the free access ofthe community. Icannot Pay. It was certain that. inMother Shipton s words, he "didn't say cards once"during the evening. Haply the time was beguiled byan accordion, produced somewhat ostentatiously by

lorn Simson from his pack. Notwithstanding some dif-ficulties attending the manipulation of this InstrumentJr iney Woods managed to pluck several reluctant melo-dies from its keys, to the accompaniment by the Inno-cent on a pair of bone castanets. But the crowningfestivity of the evening was reached ina rude camp-meet-ing hymn, which the lovers. Joining hands, sang withgreat earnestness and vociferation. Ifear that a cer-tain defiant tone and Covenanter's swing to its chorusrather than any devotional quality, caused it speedilyto Infect the others, who at last Joined in the refrain:'1 m proud to live in the service or the Lord

And I'm bound to die in his army."The pines rocked, the storm eddied and whirled abovethe miserable group, and the flames of their altarleaped heavenward as ifin token of the vow.

At midnight the storm abated, the rolling cloudsparted, and the stars glittered keenly above the sleep-Ing camp. Mr. Oakhurst, whose professional habitshad enabled him to live on the smallest possible amountof sleep. in dividing the watch with Tom Simson some-now managed to take upon himself the greater part ofthat duty. He excused himself to the Innocent by lay-ing thut he had "often been a week without sieep."Doing what?" asked Tom. "Poker!" replied Oakhurstsententiously. "When a man gets a streak of luck—nigger luck—he don't get tired. The luck gives in first.Luck, continued the gambler, /reflectively, "Is a mightyqueer thing. Allyou know about it for certain is thatIt r bound to change. And it's finding out when it'sgoing to change that makes you. We've had a streakof bad luck since we left Poker Flat—you come alongand ship you get into It, too. If you can hold yourcards right along you're all right. For." added thegambler, with cheerful irrelevance—"

'I'm proud to live In the service of the Lord,And I'm bound to die. in his army.'

"The third day came, and the sun, looking throughthe white-curtained valley, saw the outcasts dividetheir slowly decreasing store of provisions for the morn-Ingmeal. Itwas one of the peculiarities of that mountainclimate that Its rays diffused a kindly warmth over thewintry landscape, as if In regretful commiseration ofthe past. But it revealed drift on drift of Enow piled

high around the hut— hopeless, uncharted, trackless •#sea of white lying below the rocky shores to which thecastaways still clung. Through the marvelously clearair the smoke of the pastoral village of Poker Flat rosemiles away. Mother Shipton saw It,and from a remotepinnacle of her rocky fastness hurled in that direction

?*>rnn? «np,*mal *£!ctlon-

It was her last vituperative at-a o*r,n? ? *Perhaps tor that reason was Invested withshy.m i

de*ree °f sublimity. It did her good, sheprivately Informed the Duchess. "Just you go out thereamusing Ahd "Si,*.?he then set hcrsei? to the task ofn£n^% thfi £PlldPIld

-as she and the Duchess were

« Knn,h.call In. / Piney Was no chicken, but it was

?ni,ntfiS*ti,and original theory of the pair thus to ac-

properaCt that she dldn>t swear and wasn't im-

rePdv^ntil fiTept up apaln through the gorges, thepnasmJ"

™ » ?f the accordion rpse and fell in fitfulfl?e R,,

a 1,lons-drawn gasps by the flickering camp-left hvinmffl

C\u2666ai cd., to fiil entirely the aching void

hv piJn3U,fflclent,food, £nd a new diversion was .leftDy fine>—story telling. Neither Mr. Oakhurst nor his'™,''e.:companions caring to relate tneir personal ex-

?nnn-. CeS> th'8 Pla° WOUItI *»*• falled -

tOO. but for ther",01;0 1; 0™ months before he had chanced upon»tfi £» r? y of Mr Pope s ingenious translation of the.1lad

-,Jie,,now Proposed to narrate tlie principal in-nrV^r^r,/ that poem-having thoroughly mastered theargument and fairly forgotten the words— the cur-

fw \?.m£CU.lar °£ Sandy Bar- And so for the rest oftha. nig-ht thevHomeric demigods again walked theearth. Trojan bully and wily Greek wrestled in th-winds, and the great pines in the canyon seemed to bowilOi10 ?»uath ,of tbe,son of Peleus

- Mr. Oakhurst list-ened with quiet satisfaction. Most especially was hoInterested In the fate of "Ash-heels." as the Innocentpersisted in denominating the "swift-footed Achilles"MJs*' Wlth small food and much of Homer and the ac-cordion, a ween passed over the heads of the outcasts.Tho sun again forsook them, and again from the leadenskies the snowflakes were sifted over the land. Day bya>; .loser aroUIld them drew the snowy circle, until atlast, they looked from their prison door over driftedwalls of dazzling white that towered twenty feet abovetheir heads. It became more and more difficult to re-plenish their fires, even from the fallen trees besidethem now half hidden in the~ drifts. And vet no onecomplained. The lovers turned from the dreary pros-pect and looked into each other's eyes and were happyMr. Oakhurst settled himself coolly to the losing gamebefore him. The Duchess, more cheerful than she hadbeen, assumed the care of Piney. Only Mother Shipto'n-once the strongest of the party-seemed to sicken andfade. At midnight on the tenth day she called Oak-hurst to her side. "I'm going." she said, in a voice ofquerulous weakness, "but don't say anything about itDon t waken the kids. Take the bundle from under myhead and open it." Mr. Oakhurst did so. It containedMother Shipton's rations for the last week untouchedGive em to the child." she said, pointing to the sleep-Ing Piney. "You've starved yourself," said the gam-bi«r. 'That what they call it." said the woman, quer-ulously, as she lay down again, and. turning her faceto the wall, passed quietly away. .

The accordion and the bones were put aside that dayand Homer was forgotten. When the body of MotherBhipton had been committed to the snow, Mr. Oakhursttook the Innocent aside, and showed him a pair ofsnowshoes which he had fashioned from the old pack-paddle. "There's one chance In a hundred to save heryet." he said, pointing to Piney; "but it's there" headded, pointing toward Poker Flat. "Ifyou can reachthere in two days she's safe." "And you"?" asked TomSimson. "I'llstay here," was the curt reply.

The lovers parted with a long embrace. "You are notgoing, too?" said the Duchess, as she saw Mr. Oakhurstapparently waiting to accompany him. "As far as thecanyon." he replied. He turned suddenly and kissedthe Duchess, leaving her pallid face aflame, and hertrembling limbs rigid with amazement.Night came, but not Mr. Oakhurst. Itbrought th«Btorm again and the whirlingsnow. Then the Duchessfeeding the fire, found that some one had quietly niledbeside the hut enough fuel to last a few days longer

The tears rose to her eyes, but ehe hid them froraPiney.

The women slept but little. In the morning, lookingInto each other's faces, they read their Fate. Neitherspoke, lut I'iney, accepting the position or the strong-er, drew near and placed her arm around the Duchess'waist. They kept this attiude for the rest of the day.That night the storm reached its greatest fury, and,rending- asunder the protecting pines, invaded the veryhut.

Toward morning they found themselves unable tofeed the fire, which gradually died away. As the em-bers slowly blackened, the Duchess crept closer taPiney, and broke the silence of many hours: "Piaji.can you pray?" "No. clear." said Piney, ?imply.Duchess, without .knowing exactly why, felt reliand, putting her head upon I'ir.cy's shoulder, spokd nomore. And so reclining-, the younger and purer plllqw-lnjr the head of the soiled sister upon her virgin breast,they fell asleep.

The wind lulled as if it feared to waken them.Feathery drift? of snow, shaken from the long pinsboughs, flew like white-winged birds, and Fettle<j aboutthem as they slept. The moon through the rifted cloudslooked looked down upon what had been the camp. Butall human stain, all trace of earthly travail, was hiddenbeneath the spotless mantle mercifully flung fromabove.

They slept all that day and the next, nor did theywaken when voices and footsteps broke the silence ofthe camp. And when pitying i'nsers brushed the snowfrom their wan faces, you could scarcely have toldfrom the equal peace that dwelt upon them which waiphe that had Binned. Kv.ri the law of Poker Flat rec-ognized this, and turned away, leaving them still lockedin each other's arms.

But at the head of the gulch, on one of the largestpine trees, they found the deuce of clubs pinned to th«bark with a bowie knife. It bore the following writtenin pencil in a firm hand:

*Jk

alt Beneath This Treo* Lies the Body* Of *JOHN OAKHVRST,

jj. Who Struck a Streak of Bad Luck*

On the 23d of November, ISSO,*

and*

Handed In His ChecksOn the 7th of December. 1850.

** *

And pulseless and cold, with a Derringer by his .m.and a bullet in his heart, though still calm as in fff«beneath the tsnow lay he who was at once the str^nee.Jand yet the weakest of the outcasts of Poker Flat.

18 TIIE SAX FEAXCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JANUARY 23, 1898.