Armand Valois and Raoul Dauvray have a blessed new bond of brotherhood.
They are both lovers. With Padre Francisco, they are a guard of
honor, watching night and day the two heiresses.
They share the secret consciousness of Natalie de Santos that Joe
Woods has in store some great stroke.
Judge Davis, Peyton, and the resolute Joe are the only calm ones in
the settlement. For, far and wide the news runs of racy developments.
In store, saloon, and billiard lounging-place, on the corners, and
around the deserted court-room, knots of cigar-smoking scandal-mongers
assuage their inward cravings by frequent resort to the never-failing
panacea--whiskey. Wild romances are current, in which two great
millionaires, two sets of lawyers, duplicate heiresses, two foreign
dukes, the old padre and the queenly madame are the star actors in
a thrilling local drama, which is so far unpunctuated by the crack
of the revolver.
It is a struggle for millions, and the clash of arms will surely
come.
There has been no great issue ever resolved in Mariposa before the
legal tribunal, which has not added its corpses to the mortuary
selections lying in queer assortment on the red clay hillsides.
"Justice nods in California while the pistols are being drawn.
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