112 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope 



know what he said about the Californian hired 

 girl, — possibly he never had the honour of meet- 

 ing her. 



Many queer characters lived within a small 

 radius of our ranch-house. I dare say we appeared 

 equally queer to them, for I often intercepted winks 

 and grins not intended for my eyes which bespoke 

 a keen sense of the humorous. Reciprocity is a 

 blessed thing, and I am happy to think that we 

 afforded some of our friends as much amusement 

 as they furnished us. One most remarkable instance 

 of how much stranger truth is than fiction came 

 under our immediate notice : a case of Enoch 

 Arden. There were two brothers, and the eldest 

 married a wife, who bore him children. Then, 

 tired perhaps of domestic joys, he sailed away — 

 seemingly for ever. Now the younger brother had 

 lived beneath the elder's roof, and he knew that 

 his brother's wife was as gold that has been tried 

 in the fire ; accordingly, when the years passed and 

 the elder never returned, nor sent word ' that he was 

 alive, it seemed good to the younger to marry his 

 brother's wife, which he did, and in due time became, 

 in his turn, the father of several children. And 

 then, like a bolt from the blue, the man who had 

 disappeared reappeared, descending '' perpendicu- 

 lar," as Sterne would say, with a " me void mes 

 enfants ! " What happened ? If you come to think 

 of it, this is a nice little problem — something akin 

 to Mr. Stockton's Lady or the Tiger riddle. Here 

 were two husbands, two fathers, — and one wife ! 

 The problem was solved to the entire satisfaction of 

 all persons concerned, including Mrs. Grundy, who 



