| Chapter | I. | —Sausages and Palaver |
| " | II. | —Illumination |
| " | III. | —William Chillingworth |
| " | IV. | —Calamity Cañon |
| " | V. | —Speculations |
| " | VI. | —Which contains a Moral |
| " | VII. | —Of Blood and Water |
| " | VIII. | —Which ends in Flames |
| " | IX. | —"Is Writ in Moods and Frowns |
| and Wrinkles Strange" | ||
| " | X. | —The Daughters of Themis |
LITERATURE.—"It has the joy of life in it, sparkle, humour, charm.... All the characters, in their contrasts and developments, are drawn with fine delicacy; and the book is one of those few which one reads again with increased pleasure."
DAILY TELEGRAPH.—"A story of extraordinary interest.... Mr. Vachell's enthralling story, the dénouement of which worthily crowns a literary achievement of no little merit."
PALL MALL GAZETTE.—"The tale is well told. Besides more than one scene of vividly dramatic force, there is some really excellent drawing of American character."
WORLD.—"Curious and engrossing.... The wife of the man chiefly concerned is a finely presented character, and at the close the author achieves the beautiful and the true."
ACADEMY.—"A virile and varied novel of free life on the Pacific Coast of America."
ATHENÆUM.—"It is a story which the English reader will greet with pleasure.... The book is good reading to the end."
SPECTATOR.—"Full of colour, incident, and human interest, while its terse yet vivid style greatly enhances the impressiveness of the whole."
SCOTSMAN.—"Showing the grasp of a powerful hand on every page.... It is impossible in a brief sketch to give a grasp of all the threads in this complicated story, but they are unravelled with so much skill that the reader feels that everything happens because it must. The characterization, generally speaking, is masterly, and the dialogue is clever. The story increases in power and pathos from chapter to chapter."
DAILY MAIL.—"Full of spirit as well as of all-round literary excellence.... The scenes are vivid, the passions are strong, the persons who move in the pages have life and warmth, and the interest they arouse is often acutely eager. The book grips."