[In the Carquinez Woods by Bret Harte]@TWC D-Link book
In the Carquinez Woods

CHAPTER I
5/35

"And give you a show to snatch that six-shooter and blow a hole through me, as you did to the Sheriff of Calaveras, eh?
Not if this court understands itself," said the first speaker dryly.
"Go to the devil, then," she said curtly.
"Not before a lady," responded the other.

There was another laugh from the men, the spurs jingled again, the three torches reappeared from behind the tree, and then passed away in the darkness.
For a time silence and immutability possessed the woods; the great trunks loomed upwards, their fallen brothers stretched their slow length into obscurity.

The sound of breathing again became audible; the shape reappeared in the aisle, and recommenced its mystic dance.

Presently it was lost in the shadow of the largest tree, and to the sound of breathing succeeded a grating and scratching of bark.

Suddenly, as if riven by lightning, a flash broke from the center of the tree-trunk, lit up the woods, and a sharp report rang through it.


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