“Oh, come,” Benito voiced a protest, “we’re not a mob, Dave.  You know that.”  He laid a hand upon the other’s arm.  “I understand how hard it’s been for you....  You’re suffering for the sins of underlings unfit to lace your boots.”

“Against whom you warned me not long since,” said Broderick to Alice.

“Casey, Mulligan.  Yes, I remember ... you resented it a little, didn’t you?”

“No,” he said, his eyes upon her with that eager look, repressed and yearning, which she could not always meet.  “No, dear lady; it was not resentment....  But it hurt.”

Alice turned from him to her husband.  “Tell me what they’ve done today, Benito.”

Windham’s eyes shone.  “You should see Will Coleman.  Ah, he’s a leader incomparable.  We’ve got nearly 6,000 men.  Infantry, artillery, cavalry.  A police force, too, for patrolling the streets day and night.”

“And what is the other side doing?” Alice asked.

“They’ve got the Governor wobbling,” said Benito.  “Sooner or later he’ll call out the militia....”

“But they’ve got no ammunition, no guns, I understand,” responded Broderick.  “Sherman tried to commandeer those flintlock muskets from the Mexican war—­several thousand of them—­but Coleman got them first.”

“Yes,” affirmed Benito.  “The Sheriff’s seized some scattered arms.  But that is not what Coleman fears.  It’s Federal interference.  They’re trying to get General Wool to give them rifles from the arsenal at Benicia, perhaps a gunboat from the navy yard.”

“That means—­civil warfare,” Broderick said, aghast.

Alice Windham rose and the two men with her.  She took an arm of each.  “Come,” she pleaded, “let us put it all away—­this turmoil of men’s hatred ... let us walk here in the sweet-scented evening and forget.”

“I wish we might,” said Broderick quickly.  “What will happen in the next few days may never be forgotten.”

Swiftly, Alice turned to him; looked up into his face.  “Do you think,” she asked, so low that he could scarcely catch the words, “do you think, Dave, that you’re safe?”

Broderick caught his breath.  Involuntarily his eyes strayed toward Benito.  But the latter was so patently absorbed in sunset splendors that Broderick sighed as if relieved.  It seemed as though some holy thing had passed between him and this woman.  In her look, her simple question lay a shadowy, half-spoken answer to his heart’s unuttered prayer.  For a moment the world seemed aglow with some strange, quiet glory.  Then he said, quite calmly:  “I?  Oh, yes, I’m safe enough.”

* * * * *

Saturday passed without much change in King’s condition.  He was sinking slowly, despite his rugged strength, his will to live and the unceasing efforts of the city’s best physicians.

The Law and Order Party was being organized out of various elements that viewed alarmedly the Vigilantes’ growing power.  Religious, political, social elements combined in this new faction.  In it were men of note, distinction, undisputed honor; and rascals of the worst degree.