"Senator, just so. But the general, all along he's sort o' been their second; indorsed for 'em same's I'd like to for Mr. Hugh. He'd be their second now if they could fight--as we know they'd be glad to. So, why ain't he honor bound to take their place if I take Mr. Hugh's? This young gentleman'll act for me--won't you?--yes, and the senator can act for the general. Then, senator, the first time we can get ashore we can settle the whole thing without involving Mr. Hugh and without ever letting the ladies know--or the crowd either--that it ain't just our own affair. I can easily give the general cause, you know." "My friend," said the cunning senator, who knew his ruling sin was tardiness and that he was tardy now, "I don't say anything could be fairer--in its right time. If you'll go to bed and to sleep----" "Senator, delays are dangerous. I might get the cholera. The general might get it. Or some other trouble might crop up and sort o' separate us." Ah! It flashed into the senator's mind that California, though meaning all he said, had in full view the Gilmore-Harriet affair and that this was a move in that, a move to checkmate. His countermove had to be prompt; some one was coming up the nearest steps. "My dear sir, there _is_ another trouble; serious, imminent, and almost sure to involve our friend Hugh in a vital mistake--Why, general, I thought you, at least, was asleep." "Sss-enator, I was. I mmm-erely had not und-ressed. Have you fff-ound that young man?" "Not yet, general. Let's go see him together. I want to see you, too, for just a moment, if these gentlemen will excuse me that long." "Mr. Hugh's with the first clerk, yonder by the bell," said the gold hunter. "We'll wait here, eh?" The general wanted to reply, but "I wish you would," responded the senator and hurried him away. XLIX KANGAROO POINT Aboard the _Votaress_ was a gentle, retiring lady, large and fair, whom both Hugh and Ramsey had liked from the first, yet whose acquaintance they had made very slowly and quite separately. She was a parson's wife, who had never seen a play, a game of cards, or a ball, danced a dance, read a novel, tasted wine, or worn a jewel. She had four handsome, decorous, well-freckled children, two boys, two girls. At table, until the married pairs of Vicksburg, Yazoo, and Milliken's Bend had gone ashore, she had not sat with the foremost dozen, although she and the bishop spoke often together and were always "sister" and "brother." Her near neighbors at the board had been the Carthaginians and Napoleonites, and it was through them that she had met the Gilmores. To Ramsey and Hugh she had been made known by her children, one boy and girl having fallen wildly in love with the young lady's red curls, and the other two with Hugh and his frown.