I can't go back
to him and resume, no more'n a wildcat bank. For one thing, I wouldn't
take him from her."

"You don't mean they're together now?"

"Now, no, but by spells, yes. Bound to happen--so many of us so willing.
I'd try to talk the thing out with this young man and Mr. Watson, but
they all feel alike. Reckon it does 'em credit, but--well--I'd like to
talk it out with you and the general. I think we can dispense with the
boat's consent. Don't you?"

"Oh, Lord, man, what have I got to do with that?"

"Hold your horses, senator. I look at it this way: If the twins hadn't
been too busy pecking at Mr. Hugh I'm just the sort o' man they'd 'a'
pecked at, and hence I have a good moral right to waive their not doing
it and take the will for the deed."

"Nonsense, my good friend; good joke, nothing
more."

"Hold on; there's this anyhow: If Mr. Hugh _could_ accept their
invitation maybe he'd take me for his second; and what does second mean
if it don't mean that if, after all, something should force him to drop
out I could drop in?"

"Oh," laughed the senator, freeing his buttonhole by gentle force and
edging away, "very well; but the twins! They're out! Look at _their_
fix; _they_ can't fight now."

"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