"My valley'" he managed to murmur presently. "My beautiful San Gregorio! Japs! Japs!" "I hadn't the faintest idea that information would upset you so," the girl protested. "Please forgive me." "I--I come from the San Gregorio," he cried passionately. "I love every rock and cactus and rattlesnake in it. _Valgame Dios_!" And the maimed right hand twisted and clutched as, subconsciously, he strove to clench his fist. "Ah, who was the coward--who was the traitor that betrayed us for a handful of silver?" "Yes; I believe there is a great deal of the Latin about you," she said demurely. "If I had a temper as volcanic as yours, I would never, never go armed." "I could kill with my naked hands the white man who betrays his community to a Jap. _Madre de Dios_, how I hate them!" "Well, wait until your trusty right hand is healed before you try garroting anybody," she suggested dryly. "Suppose you cool off, Mr. Pepper-pot, and tell me more about this terrible menace?" "You are interested--really?" "I could be made to listen without interrupting you, if you could bring yourself to cease glaring at me with those terrible chile-con-carne eyes. I can almost see myself at my own funeral. Please remember that I have nothing whatsoever to do with my father's business affairs." "Your father looks like a human being, and if he realized the economic crime he is fostering--" "Easy, soldier! You're discussing my father, whereas I desire to discuss the Yellow Peril. To begin, are you prejudiced against a citizen of Japan just because he's a Jap?" "I will be frank. I do not like the race. To a white man, there is nothing lovable about a Jap, nothing that would lead, except in isolated cases, to a warm friendship between members of our race and theirs. And I dare say the individual Jap has as instinctive a dislike for us as we have for him." "Well then, how about John Chinaman?" His face brightened. "Oh, a Chinaman is different. He's a regular fellow. You can have a great deal of respect and downright admiration for a Chinaman, even of the coolie class." "Nevertheless, the Chinese are excluded from California." He nodded.