For a moment she stood motionless. Then her hand went upward, stripped the covering from her features. "Now," she asked him, in a half-shamed whisper, "will you help me?" "Yes ... Mrs. Windham," said Burke. * * * * * At daybreak on a raw, cold Monday morning, Broderick, with his seconds, Joe McKibben and Dave Colton, arrived at the upper end of Lake Merced. Terry and his seconds were already waiting. The principals, clad in long overcoats, did not salute each other. Broderick looked toward the sea. Terry stood implacable and silent, turning now and then to spit into the sun dried grass. The seconds conferred with each other. All seemed ready to begin when an officer, springing from a foam-flecked horse, rushed up to Broderick and shouted, "You are under arrest." Broderick turned half-bewildered. He was very tired, for he had not slept the night before. "Arrest?" he said blankly. "You and Justice Terry," said the officer; "I've warrants for ye both. Come along and no nonsense. This duel is stopped." Terry began an angry denunciation of the officer, but his seconds, Calhoun Benham and Colonel Thomas Hayes, persuaded him at length into a blustering submission. Principals and seconds, feeling like the actors in an ill-considered farce, rode off together. Later they were summoned to appear before Judge Coon. * * * * * "The whole thing was a farce," Benito told his wife. "The case was dismissed. Our prosecuting counsel asked the judge to put them under bonds to keep the peace. But he refused." "Then the fight will go on?" asked Alice. Her face was white. "Doubtless," said Benito gloomily. "They say that Terry's been practicing with a pair of French pistols during the past two months and hopes to use them at the meeting. Old 'Natchez,' the gunsmith, tells me one's a tricky weapon ... discharges now and then before the trigger's pressed." "Why--that would be murder," Alice spoke aghast. "You must find David's seconds and warn them." "I've tried all afternoon to locate them ... they're hidden ... afraid of arrest." * * * * * Despite the secrecy with which the second meeting was arranged, some three score spectators were already assembled at the duelling ground when Broderick and Terry arrived. It was not far from where they had met on the previous morning, but no officer appeared to interrupt their combat. Both men looked nervous and worn, especially Broderick, who had spent the night in a flea-infested hut on the ocean shore at the suggestion of his seconds who feared further interference. Terry had fared better, being quartered at the farm house of a friend who provided breakfast and a flask of rum.