Produced by Audrey Longhurst, William Flis, and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team. [Illustration] SALOMY JANE BY BRET HARTE WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY HARRISON FISHER AND ARTHUR I. KELLER BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY THE RIVERSIDE PRESS CAMBRIDGE 1910 COPYRIGHT, 1898, BY BRET HARTE COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED _Published October 1910_ CONTENTS I A KISS AND AN ESCAPE 1 II THE LADY'S REFLECTIONS 19 III THE KISS REPEATED 35 IV ANOTHER ESCAPE 59 A KISS AND AN ESCAPE [Illustration] I Only one shot had been fired. It had gone wide of its mark,--the ringleader of the Vigilantes,--and had left Red Pete, who had fired it, covered by their rifles and at their mercy. For his hand had been cramped by hard riding, and his eye distracted by their sudden onset, and so the inevitable end had come. He submitted sullenly to his captors; his companion fugitive and horse-thief gave up the protracted struggle with a feeling not unlike relief. Even the hot and revengeful victors were content. They had taken their men alive. At any time during the long chase they could have brought them down by a rifle-shot, but it would have been unsportsmanlike, and have ended in a free fight, instead of an example. And, for the matter of that, their doom was already sealed. Their end, by a rope and a tree, although not sanctified by law, would have at least the deliberation of justice. It was the tribute paid by the Vigilantes to that order which they had themselves disregarded in the pursuit and capture. Yet this strange logic of the frontier sufficed them, and gave a certain dignity to the climax. "Ef you've got anything to say to your folks, say it _now_, and say it quick," said the ringleader. Red Pete glanced around him. He had been run to earth at his own cabin in the clearing, whence a few relations and friends, mostly women and children, non-combatants, had outflowed, gazing vacantly at the twenty Vigilantes who surrounded them. All were accustomed to scenes of violence, blood-feud, chase, and hardship; it was only the suddenness of the onset and its quick result that had surprised them. They looked on with dazed curiosity and some disappointment; there had been no fight to speak of--no spectacle! A boy, nephew of Red Pete, got upon the rain-barrel to view the proceedings more comfortably; a tall, handsome, lazy Kentucky girl, a visiting neighbor, leaned against the doorpost, chewing gum. Only a yellow hound was actively perplexed. He could not make out if a hunt were just over or beginning, and ran eagerly backwards and forwards, leaping alternately upon the captives and the captors. The ringleader repeated his challenge. Red Pete gave a reckless laugh and looked at his wife.