“Can it be possible that Governor Stanford had any knowledge that his associate was sending Doctor Guller on that disgraceful errand?” Don Mariano queried.
“It looks like it, but let us hope he did not,” Mr. Holman replied.
“Yes, let us hope also that Mr. Lawrence Mechlin was misinformed, and Doctor Guller has not been guilty of anything so atrocious,” the Don said.
It was finally decided that the three friends would go to San Francisco at the same time that Lizzie would be going. She had made a flying visit to her family at San Diego, and Gabriel was calling loudly for her to return, saying that after banking hours he felt lonely and missed her dreadfully.
Lizzie, therefore, had three gentlemen for her escort, and in a few days they all steamed away for the city of the sand dunes.
The first day in the city Don Mariano devoted to raising a sum of money by a mortgage on his rancho, as he needed the money to pay taxes on the land occupied by the squatters; but the day after, the three friends presented themselves at the railroad office and inquired for Governor Stanford. They were told that he had just left the office, but that he would be there on the following day. As they were leaving the office, they met a Mr. Perin, a friend whom they had not seen for some time. When they had exchanged greetings, Mr. Perin asked them if they had come to see Governor Stanford. On being told that such was the case, he said:
“It is well that you did not see him, for he is not in a very good humor to-day, and as for Mr. C., he is like a bear with a sore head—furious at Tom Scott.”
“What is the matter? What has Tom Scott done to anger his persecutors?” asked Mr. Holman.
“It seems they need money and can't raise as much as they want, while Huntington keeps clamoring for more to kill Tom Scott together with the Texas Pacific,” was the answer.
“The earnings of the Central Pacific this last year were seventeen millions of dollars. How are they in such need of money? Is not that enough to kill Colonel Scott?” Mr. Mechlin asked. “Why do they want more?”