Joaquín and his companions hold up a group of French, German, and American prospectors. Half of the miners die trying to defend their takings, and Joaquín’s party gets away with a large sum. Three-Fingered Jack wishes to kill the remaining prospectors, but Joaquín restrains him.

While Three-Fingered Jack stops to water his horse, the party walks past a terrified Chinese miner, whom they leave unmolested. Shortly afterward the miner runs after them in a state of abject terror, hotly pursued by Jack. Joaquín restrains and reprimands his comrade.

When the group needs to cross the Tuolumne River, the banditti awaken the ferryman and demand that he loan them whatever money he has. When Jack sees how little money the ferryman has to offer, he is enraged and prepares to kill him. Jack is again called off by Joaquín, who refuses to take any money from the ferryman, a poor man with whom he has no argument.

The company settles in Stockton, where Joaquín attracts a great deal of admiration and speculation about his identity and origins, especially among the town’s female residents. One day, beneath a series of misspelt advertisements, Joaquín finds a reward notice for himself. In front of a crowd of onlookers, he dismounts his horse and writes a notice of his own at the bottom of the flyer, offering to double the $5,000 reward and signing his name. He rides off before anyone has a chance to react and afterward returns to the town heavily disguised.

After looting and burning a schooner transporting wealthy miners, Joaquín returns to Arooyo Cantoova, where he finds his associate Valenzuela has amassed over 1,000 horses. The assembled banditti feast together and reminisce about past adventures. The next morning, Joaquín makes a speech to the assembled company. He reveals that the numbers of his organization have swelled to 2,000. With these forces, he aims to make a “clean sweep” of the Southern states, killing Americans and destroying their property. When this is accomplished, he will feel avenged on behalf of himself, his people, and the land itself. He will abandon his criminal pursuits and retire into the Sonoran mountains.

The company splits up, and Joaquín remains at the rendezvous with 25 of his associates. Among these is the widow of Gonzales, Margarita, who has remarried to a brutish character called Guerra. When Joaquín catches her preparing to slit her new husband’s throat one night, he warns her that she will be held responsible if anything happens to Guerra at the camp.

A party of American hunters stumbles upon Joaquín’s hideout. The banditti take the men prisoner and are about to kill them to avoid having their whereabouts disclosed. A young member of the hunting group steps forward and swears on his honor—not as an American citizen but simply as a man—that he will keep their secret. A female member of Joaquín’s company also intercedes on the Americans’ behalf, and Joaquín agrees to spare them their lives. The hunters keep their half of the bargain and never betray the banditti.

Following an altercation, Guerra thrashes Margarita and she murders him in his sleep. She soon finds a new husband, a few years younger than herself.

Joaquín and his followers move into Calaveras County, where they begin an extensive campaign of robbery and murder.

Joaquín meets a group of prospectors at a remote location and converses with them in fluent English, convincing them he is a white American until another member of their company, Jim Boyce, arrives and recognizes him. The miners all begin to shoot, and Joaquín’s only escape route is exceedingly narrow and perilous and in full range of their pistols. He rides up the trail with his signature cry of “I am Joaquín!”

Realizing that Boyce will probably follow him in the hope of a reward, Joaquín sets up a series of decoy camps by means of which his troop is able to ambush its pursuers. Unbeknown to Joaquín, Jim Boyce escapes the ensuing massacre with three others and goes on to have a successful career. The narrator congratulates him on his survival.