It finally burns its gleaming
pathway through every barrier.
With direct Western frankness, the Pacific "jeunesse doree" will
date from bonanza or railroad deal. Spoliated don, stolen franchise,
giant stock-job, easy political "coup de main," government lands
scooped in, or vast tracts of timber stolen under the law's easy
formalities, are their quarterings. Whiskey sellers, adventuresses,
and the minor fry of fighting henchmen, make up the glittering
train of these knights. The diamond-decked dames of this "Golden
Circle" exclaim in happy chorus, as they sit in the easy-chairs of
wealth's thronging courts:
"This is the way we long have sought, And mourned because we found
it not."
But riding behind Philip Hardin is the grim horseman, Care. He mourns
his interrupted political career. The end of the war approaches.
His spirited sultana now points to the lovely child. Her resolute
lips speak boldly of marriage.
Hardin wonders if any refluent political wave may throw him up to
the senate or the governor's chair. His powers rust in retirement.
He fears the day when his stewardship of Lagunitas may be at an
end.
He warily determines to get rid of Padre Francisco as soon as
possible.
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