To be once more powerful, to command, to dominate.

His thin lips pressed themselves together; the nostrils of his prominent hawk-like nose dilated, his erect, commanding figure stiffened unconsciously.

For a moment, he saw himself controlling the situation, the foremost figure in his State, feared, respected, thousands of men beneath him, his ambition at length gratified; his career, once apparently brought to naught, completed; success a palpable achievement.
What if this were his chance, after all, come at last after all these years.

His chance! The instincts of the old-time gambler, the most redoubtable poker player of El Dorado County, stirred at the word.
Chance! To know it when it came, to recognise it as it passed fleet as a wind-flurry, grip at it, catch at it, blind, reckless, staking all upon the hazard of the issue, that was genius.

Was this his Chance?
All of a sudden, it seemed to him that it was.