348 



FOX-HOUND, FOREST, AND PRAIRIE. 



carried out at once ! " Aye has it and Ives is doomed. A 

 half-finished loghouse stood alongside. Thither they dragged 

 him, strung his own lariat round his throat (probably the same 

 raw hide by which he had hauled his victim out of view), and 



within five minutes the ruffian was choking out his life's breath 

 against a rafter beam. Twenty-four hours were given Judge 

 Smith to quit the country : and from that day was inaugurated 

 a new era in the prosperity, as also in the jurisprudence, of 

 Virginia City. 



A species of rough chivalry is not the least worthy motive 

 which will rouse a western mob to take the law into its own 

 hands often without waiting for deliberation. It is not so 

 many years since a young Englishman was within an ace of 

 falling a victim to a sentiment of this kind unduly roused. 

 Happening to call upon a married woman of his acquaintance, 

 he was told by her younger sister that she would be returning 

 home shortly, and was invited in to wait some wine being 

 produced for his refreshment. The young lady drank a glass 



