href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@21892@[email protected]#Chapter_XVI" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">Chapter XVI—The Aftermath

166 Chapter XVII—"She knows her Father's Will is Law" 180 Chapter XVIII—On the "Divide" 194 Chapter XIX—The Return to Camp Bird 206 Chapter XX—Forging the Fetters 216 Chapter XXI—Two Crimes by the Same Hand 224 Chapter XXII—The Fetters Broken 237 Chapter XXIII—The Mask Lifted 247 Chapter XXIV—Foreshadowings 254 Chapter XXV—The "Hermitage" 262 Chapter XXVI—John Britton's Story 269 Chapter XXVII—The Rending of the Veil 274 Chapter XXVIII—"As a Dream when One Awaketh" 278 Chapter XXIX—John Darrell's Story 285 Chapter XXX—After Many Years 295 Chapter XXXI—An Eastern Home 300 Chapter XXXII—Marion Holmes 308 Chapter XXXIII—Into the Fulness of Life 316 Chapter XXXIV—A Warning 321 Chapter XXXV—A Fiend at Bay 330 Chapter XXXVI—Señora Martinez 337 Chapter XXXVII—The Identification 343 Chapter XXXVIII—Within the "Pocket" 352 Chapter XXXIX—At the Time Appointed 360

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AT THE

TIME APPOINTED

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Upon a small station on one of the transcontinental lines winding among the mountains far above the level of the sea, the burning rays of the noonday sun fell so fiercely that the few buildings seemed ready to ignite from the intense heat. A season of unusual drought had added to the natural desolation of the scene. Mountains and foot-hills were blackened by smouldering fires among the timber, while a dense pall of smoke entirely hid the distant ranges from view. Patches of sage-brush and bunch grass, burned sere and brown, alternated with barren stretches of sand from which piles of rubble rose here and there, telling of worked-out and abandoned mines. Occasionally a current of air stole noiselessly down from the canyon above, but its breath scorched the withered vegetation like the blast from a