“Yes, from the throat of Betsy Jane” (a term often used for a rifle).
“In twenty minutes, my friends, there will be opened a chute into purgatory for all who are in this bar room. Your 'love token' names you Senor Bell's men. Before then you will seek the rear of the room—eh?”
She drifted away from them to pause at a small table where sat a young man alone.
“And you, pretty fellow, you are new in California?”
“Yes, I landed in San Francisco only ten days ago.” He was new indeed, or he would have realized the danger of telling his business to the first person who asked.
“You go far, senor?”
“Not now. I have come far, but my journey is near to a very happy ending.”
“So?”
“Yes. I have come to marry Miss Elena Ashley, at Auburn, to whom I have been long betrothed.”
She tapped her white teeth with her fan.