“Mary comes home, I suppose?”

“I rather think not.  I believe that she and her father have not spoken in two years.  At least, so I heard sister once say.”

“That is bad!  Poor man!  He is unfortunate with his children.”

Andrew, as he spoke, felt that he was unfortunate, and an emotion of pity stirred along the surface of his feelings.

“Indeed he is!” said Winters, who was disposed to be communicative.  “But I presume it is a good deal his own fault.  They say that his harsh treatment drove his oldest son from home.”

“Ah?”

“Yes.  He was a wild sort of a boy, and his father didn’t show him any mercy.  The consequence was, that instead of leading him into the right way, he drove him into the wrong way.  He ran off from home a great while ago, and has never been heard from since.  It is thought that he is dead.  I once heard father say that, with all his faults, he was the best of the bunch.”

Something interrupted the conversation of the two young men at this point, and they separated.  A couple of hours afterward, as Andrew walked along one of the streets of Santa Fe, musing over the intelligence he had gleaned from young Winters, a fellow soldier, whose time of service had also just expired, met him, and said—­

“You’re not going back to the States, are you?”

“Such has been my intention,” replied Andrew.

“I’m not going.”

“I thought you were.”

“I’ve altered my mind.  A party sets off to-morrow for the gold regions of California, and I’m going with them.”

“Indeed!  That’s a sudden change of resolution.  But you don’t believe all the stories you hear of this El Dorado?

“No, not all of them.  But if even the half be true, there’s a golden harvest to be reaped by all who put in the sickle.”

“Yes, the half is encouraging enough,” said Andrew, in a tone of abstraction.  The fact is, since he had heard from home, his desire to return immediately was lessened.  News of his father’s altered circumstances had softened his feelings toward him very much, and created a strong desire to aid him in the extremity to which he had been reduced.  But he had no ability to do this.  All he possessed in the world was about two hundred dollars, and it would take at least half of this to pay his passage home.  Already had his thoughts been reaching Westward, as the only point where, by any possibility, he could better his fortunes to an extent that would enable him to help his father.  But there was so much of apparent romance in the stories that reached his ears, that he had many strong doubts as to even the main facts reported.

“You’d better join us,” remarked the comrade.

“How many are going?” inquired Andrew.

“Seven.  And we’d very much like to add you to the number.”

“I’m really half-inclined to go with you,” said Andrew, speaking with a good deal of animation in his voice.