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about gold, and arrows made of it are sure to fly straight to the life. Yes, that's about it."

And quite satisfied with his own theorizing, Paola strayed on, and presently met Kalooma coming from the spring, just within the edge of the forest, with a great earthen jar of water balanced on her hip; taking it from her, he brought it to the lodge, and then applied himself to helping the maiden in her task of pounding maize be

THE MILL IN THE WOODS.

"They know, then, that gold is precious, and they are afraid lest outsiders should discover that they have a mine under their control," murmured Paolo, as he carelessly walked past the armorer's lodge, without turning his head that way. "And that fellow's talking about the 'medicine' of his work, showed that they think there is magic

tween two

stones for the midday repast which Layla was making ready.

Day after day passed by, and Paolo, while keeping eyes, ears and brain on the alert to discover the source whence the Indians. drew, their. abundant supply of gold he saw used

SO lavishly, was equally attentive in concealing the motive, or, in fact, any mo

tive for his presence in the village, assuming an indolent and

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natured, stupid creature, very much afraid of her husband, Metcal, and intensely jealous of Vila, his younger and more favored wife.

A little artful disparagement of this rival, some flatteries to herself, and some help in household matters, quite won the heart of the poor drudge; and made her smile very graciously upon the constant presence of the stranger in the lodge or in the maize-patch.

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THE GOLDEN ARROW-HEAD." PAOLO BOUNDED UPON KALOOMA'S FLYING FOOTSTEPS WITH SUCH DESPERATE SPEED THAT HE Vol. XIV., No. 1- 4,

CAUGHT HER JUST AS SHE LEAPED DOWN THE RAVINE."- SEE PAGE 46.

Several weeks had thus passed, and Paolo was beginning to wonder if Padre Junipero would commence saying Masses for the repose of his soul before his return, when an event occurred which suddenly changed the whole current of the story.

It was the day preceding the full moon of October, and all day long a suppressed, yet unmistakable excitement had pervaded the village, especially among the men, who collected in and about the armorer's lodge, talking in low and cautious tones, and always stopping and eying the stranger suspiciously whenever he approached.

Late in the afternoon Kalooma came and asked, in her pretty, coaxing way, if her good Weetawa would not go with her mother and herself into the woods to gather wild grapes, and although shrewdly suspecting that this was merely a device to take him out of the way, he at once consented, and the trio set forth for the somewhat distant valley in which they had seen the grapes ripening some days previously.

Arrived at the spot, Layla applied herself industriously to gathering such fruit as hung within her reach, while Paolo climbed the trees and threw down the purple clusters to Kalooma, who stood like a Bacchante holding up her loose outer robe of softest doeskin to catch them.

Later on, the young man found an opportunity for a confidential talk with Kalooma, while her mother was still gleaning such grapes as seemed better than those already plucked, and after a little skirmishing around the subject, he carelessly inquired:

So much

"What are the braves all going to do to-night, Kalooma? It is not a war-party, nor yet a hunting-party. I can see for myself."

"Hush, Weetawa-hush! You must not talk of these things, or we shall both be in trouble," whispered the girl, glancing anxiously toward her mother.

But Paolo, instead of heeding the warning, filliped the earring dangling so near his own shoulder, and said, lightly:

"Telaylo wishes to get some more gold to offer another pair of earrings to Kalooma, and he is going to-night with Metcal and the rest to look for it."

"Kalooma does not care for Telaylo or his gold," murmured the girl, glancing reproachfully at the lover, whom she imagined urged by jealousy to make this suggestion. Paolo's heart leaped for joy; she had rather confessed than denied his theory of the gold; but he answered, gloomily:

"I do not know; those who can make fine gifts are those whom girls like best for wooers. But perhaps I shall find some gold, too, among these hills, and then you will see what lovely things I can fashion for my beloved."

"You are better and more precious than gold-cara— but still I would like to deck my idol as gayly as Metcal will Vila when he returns; and I would give something to Layla, whom Metcal slights. I wish I could find the mine after the braves return; I am not afraid of the bad spirit; he could not touch me."

"Oh, but he would; he would tear you in pieces! I never will lead you to the mine to have you put yourself in such danger, and all to please me, bravest and best !"

"But I tell you, my pretty one, that your evil sprit cannot harm me, for I have a charm stronger than any devil," and Paolo drew from his bosom the little ebonyand-ivory crucifix Padre Anselmo had given him, with the injunction never to let it leave his person.

Kalooma handled it curiously, and asked so many questions that Paolo was led on to give her the outlines of the belief in which he had been trained by the worthy padre with scrupulous exactness.

"Why, Kalooma, you would be a Christian if you listened half an hour to one of the fathers,” said he, finally, as he looked down into the girl's humid and eager eyes.

"Who are the fathers? I had rather listen to you than to any one. Would you like me better if I were a Christian? What is a Christian?" demanded Kalooma, all in a breath?

"Too many questions all at once, carissima; but-who knows? We shall see—we shall see.”

And for the first time some serious intention regarding this beautiful child, whose artless love had gradually wakened in his own heart a feeling stronger than he had hitherto known, entered the young hunter's mind, and made him suddenly grave and thoughtful.

At this moment Layla rejoined them, and the three walked slowly back to the village by the light of the hunter's-moon now risen, broad and lustrous, above the Mountain of the King.

The little town was quiet and deserted, except for women, old men and children; all the braves had disappeared, and one or two gossips, of whom Paolo carelessly inquired whither they had gone, returned only a surly and brief reply.

On the night of the third day they returned as mysteriously and as quietly as they had gone, but the next day a great feast was held, joyful songs chanted, and all the women wore the beaming and contented appearance of one who has helped to divide the spoils, and it was not hard for Paolo to make Kalooma confess that her father and his comrades had brought home an unusually rich supply of gold, and might easily have gathered twice as much had not the time expired in which it was safe to work the mine.

And now Paolo put all his powers of coaxing and of argument in play, not scrupling to add a good deal of lovemaking and a good many indefinite promises for the future to persuade his dusky love to betray the secret

"But you cannot find the gold; it is all in our place, and nobody ever could find it without knowing, and it is only in the first three days of the moon that it can be taken. The Spirits guard it all other times, and kill those who come near," exclaimed the girl, incautiously. "And will Telaylo and the rest stay all the three days at which, as Metcal's daughter, had come to her knowledge, the gold mine?"

"Yes, they always do; and you will stay with me, and there will be no one to be jealous of you," whispered Kalooma, turning the full splendor of her great eyes upon him, and forgetting, in her loving anticipations of the three days' liberty, the admissions she was making upon the subject she was bound by fearful threats and warnings to keep secret.

Paolo listened with eyes down-dropped, lest their eager ness should betray him; and as the confiding girl nestled closer to his side, slid an arm. around her waist and pressed her to him, murmuring:

and which her father had bound her by the most solemn oath, coupled with ferocious threats, to keep absolutely secret. But when a lover pleads, especially a muchdesired and still uncertain lover, what girl ever yet found her father's wishes paramount?

Not so fond and so untutored a maid as Kalooma, at least, to whom the fourth commandment was an unknown law, and who loved with all the ardor and abandon of her tropical nature.

Two days after the return of the gold-seekers from their secret expedition, Layla remarked in the lodge that she would go that day and gather chestnuts on the mountain.

"And I will go to beat the trees and help bring home baskets," said Weetawa, carelessly.

"And Kalooma will go to carry the other half of the basket," sneered Vila; but Metcal, who discouraged all dissensions in his lodge, loftily retorted:

"A girl is always well if she is with her mother. When Vila has a boy she will not like to be parted from him more than Layla from her child."

So the nutting-party set out just as the sun reached its height, and in climbing the dry bed of a mountain torrent Layla, stout and clumsy, twisted her foot between two loose stones, and could go no further.

Kalooma comforted and pitied her, and finally said: "Rest here for an hour, little mother, and I will go and fill the baskets with nuts, and return. Weetawa will help me, and we shall soon be done."

Layla looked sharply into her daughter's eyes; they were clear and untroubled as at three years old; and, at any rate, these savage maids, like gypsy girls, are more trustworthy than their civilized sisters, so the mother gave consent, and the lovers hastily climbed the remainder of the ravine.

"Now is the time, Kalooma, the time of times !" panted Paolo, excitedly, as they reached the plateau where grew the chestnut-trees.

"To gather chestnuts ?" asked Kalooma, ingenuously. "No. To show me the entrance to the mine!" retorted Paolo, a little impatiently. "It is somewhere hereabout, I know, and we never shall have such another chance; and you have promised, remember!"

"But my father !”

"He will never know, silly child. I shall come to-night and to-morrow night, and perhaps the night after, and carry away as much gold as will make us both rich for life, and then I shall take you and push for the mission. Once there, we are safe, and Padre Gonzalvo will make you first a Christian, and then my wife. Before you have time to make up the wedding-dress I shall fetch you from the ciudad.

He strode away as he spoke, crossed the sort of natural bridge spanning the ravine, and held his way gallantly along the shelf-like path beyond, gazing about him at once carelessly and keenly, but seeing nothing strange or alarming, unless it was the slight waving of the tops of some birches upon the mountain-side, as if an animal were brushing past them.

But the next instant he was overtaken by a shriek from Kalooma, and the words, "Down, Weetawa-fall down!" followed in the next breath by the whistling of an arrow as it flew close past his ear on a line that would have pierced his brain but for the start he had given on hearing Kalooma's cry.

The next instant he was bounding back, but was met by another arrow, which, better aimed than the first, struck just above the eye, inflicting a shallow wound, from which the blood streamed down, almost blinding him, but not before he had seen Telaylo spring out of the ravine, brandishing the wampum-chain aloft, and heard him shout to the flying Kalooma to stop and listen to him, or he would have her burned for a traitor the next day in sight of the whole village.

The threat, waich he knew to be no idle one, the pain and murderous throbbing of his wound, and the full confidence that Telaylo would never fail on his third shot, wrought Paolo's blood to the boiling point, at which selfpreservation becomes not only a law, but a delight of human nature; and without further delay he fitted an arrow to the bow he could use as well as any Indian, dashed the blood from his eyes long enough to take a full aim, saw that Telaylo was just an instant behind him in doing so, and pulled the tough bow-string to his ear just as the Indian fitted his to the notched end of his arrow.

The second of difference in readiness meant life and death to both men, for as Paolo discharged his weapon he fell upon one knee, leaving the Indian's arrow to whiz harmlessly over his head, while his own buried itself deep in his rival's heart, settling for ever the jealousy and bitter hatred that had made that heart a torment to its owner for

Kalooma raised her dark eyes to her Lover's face, read it many weeks, and had sent him out that bright morning to attentively for a moment, and then said:

"If Weetawa was as wise as he thinks he is, he would say only, 'Do it because you love me and I love you, Kalooma. That would be better than the finest dress gold can buy in your ciudad, of which I know nothing."

"You are right, Kalooma, and I am a fool. Well, do it for love of Weetawa, who loves you and wants you for his wife, and let me kiss your beautiful red lips just once."

"No; that is not the way with chiefs' daughters among the Tezoyucans," replied Kalooma, proudly. "When we are married-if that day ever comes-we shall see. Now, listen, Weetawa. We are going over this little narrow ledge of rock, and then along the face of that cliff which looks as if only a mouse could pass it. You shall go first, and look neither to the right nor to the left. I shall come after you, and just as I reach that thorny bush this side of the great oak-tree, I shall drop this string of wampum down a narrow little gully you will never notice. I shall not know that I have dropped the wampum, and shall not | look after it; but to-night, when all are sleeping in the village, you can steal out and look as much as you like. If you see a pile of stones in front of a stump of a treeWhat was that ?"

"What, my darling?"

spy and follow upon the trail of the lovers.

Without waiting to see more than the spring and forward fall, that told how well his shaft had sped, Paolo bounded back across the bridge, and upon Kalooma's flying footsteps with such desperate speed that he caught her up just as she leaped down into the ravine, at whose lower end her mother was awaiting her.

Catching her by the robe, and gasping for breath, it was fully a moment before he could ejaculate: "Wait! You must not go back!"

"But I must, I must!" sobbed Kalooma. "Then you lose me, for I shall never return to Tezeyuco. They will find Telaylo to-night. Stop, they must not find your wampum in his dead hand. I shall go back and get it, and then I shall make a bee-line for the mission, and reach it by to-morrow's noon. Will you come with me, Kalooma, or will you say good-by? Hark! your mother is calling; she is coming! She must have seen Telaylo pass this way! Decide quickly, child. Come with me and be my wife, or go to meet your mother and know nothing of what has become of me. I will secure the wampum, at any rate, that Telaylo shall not betray you, even in death. Choose !"

"I will come with you, Weetawa," replied the girl, in

"I saw something-somebody-up above there on the a low voice, and with her face wan and rigid as death, but mountain. We are watched."

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still with a glitter in her eyes that told of the resolute warrior blood in her veins.

"Kalooma! Kalooma !" shrilled the voice of the mother as she hobbled her painful path up the ravine, and the

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