"
Hardin, closeted with his lawyers, suspends their eager plotting,
to furtively confer in private with the judge.
When the first stars sweep into the blue mountain skies, and
a silver moon rises slowly over the pine-clad hills, Joseph Woods
summons all his latent fascinations to appease Madame Natalie de
Santos. The sturdy Missourian has had his contretemps with Sioux
and Pawnee. He has faced prairie fires, stampeded buffalo herds,
and met dangers by flood and field. Little personal discussions
with horse thieves, some border frays, and even a chance encounter
on a narrow trail with a giant grizzly, have tried his nerve. But
he braces with a good stiff draught of cognac now. He fears the
wily and fascinating Natalie. He is at heart a would-be lady's
man. Roughness is foreign to his nature, but he will walk the grim
path of duty.
When he thinks of flinching, there rises on his memory the lonely
grave where Peyton laid Maxime Valois to rest on the bloody field
of Peachtree Creek, with the stars and bars lying lightly on his
gallant breast. And he calmly enters the presence of the once famous
siren.
There is a mute entreaty in her eyes, as she motions him to a seat.
Joseph toys nervously with the huge diamond, which is a badge "de
rigueur" of his rank and grade as a bonanza king.
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