Summary
Death Valley’s ochre inferno yields a solitary fortune to John Stuart Webster—calloused loner, prospector-poet of the wasteland—before the whistle of a west-bound locomotive reroutes his destiny. Aboard, he intercepts the tremor in Dolores Ruey’s obsidian eyes as a silk-clad masher closes in; Webster’s knuckles speak the language of guardianship, and the carriage rocks with sudden chivalry. Word reaches him that Billy Geary, boon companion and dreamer, has struck aureate seams in Sobrante, a fever-dream republic stitched together by banana fronds and revolution. Webster boards a steamer south, but the tropics serve ptomaine instead of promise; New Orleans swallows him in feverish delirium until a midnight park duel gifts him another stray soul—Ricardo Ruey, exiled scion of a deposed presidente, blade at his throat, history at his heels. Hidden in Webster’s cabin, Ricardo spills dynastic tragedy: Sarros, the assassin-usurper, bleeds the country crimson. Rejuvenated, Webster disembarks into emerald chaos, discovers Geary enamored of Dolores—now revealed as Ricardo’s unwitting sister—and consigns his own longing to the mine’s maw while dispatching the lovers to wed. Insurrection erupts; Webster, bullet-riddled, becomes standard-bearer for Ricardo’s resurrection. Victorious but bed-bound, he wakes to Dolores’s ministrations; Geary’s love proves mirage, Webster’s confession ignites, and matrimony glimmers like a newfound vein.
Synopsis
John Stuart Webster having prospecting in Death Valley prosperously, boards a train for Denver and rescues Dolores Ruey, a beautiful Central American girl who was reared in the United States, from a masher. Webster learns that his pal Billy Geary has discovered gold in Sobrante, Central America. He leaves to help, but develops ptomaine poisoning on the way. After recovering in New Orleans, Webster saves a man from being killed in a park. Later, the man, Ricardo Ruey, hides in Webster's steamer room and relates that his father, the former president of Sobrante, was assassinated by the present ruler, Sarros. In Sobrante, Webster finds that Geary is in love with Dolores, who arrived earlier. After sending Geary to marry Dolores while he develops the mine, Webster learns that Dolores is Ricardo's sister, although neither knows this. While fighting for the victorious Ricardo, who becomes president, Webster is wounded. He recovers to find Dolores nursing him, and when she says that she does not love Geary, he confesses his love and soon plans are made to marry.
