Old Dirago, a pirate who harried the coast of California in the early part of the last century, had a daughter of whom he was passionately fond. For her sake he was on his last voyage of collecting treasure, and was about to leave his wild life of buccaneering on the high seas. He took his daughter aboard, thinking she would not discover his method of life, but her keen instinct detected the truth, and she berated him for exposing her to the risk of being insulted by gross and brutal men. In one instance, at least, her instinct was right. The mate, Vargas, taking advantage of the captain's absence ashore, came to her cabin door, and when the captain returned and caught him, he lashed Vargas to the mast and subjected him to the tortures of the whip and thirst. In going ashore to a secret cove to bury his treasure in a safer place, the old pirate was seen by a vigilant coast guard and followed. In the fight that ensued he and his men were killed and Almita saw her father's fate from the deck. The three remaining guards rowed to the ship, where the pirates were drinking and fighting, and two were killed by some of the less intoxicated, at the direction of Almita. The third guard rowed away, but in their orgy the pirates had upset a lamp and the ship caught fire. Seeing a woman aboard the guard rowed back, but the frenzied ruffians, who had jumped over the side, seized the guard's boat, and he was compelled to swim to her aid. He succeeded in bringing her ashore, and the next day having buried her father, they took the treasure to the padre of the nearby mission. Almita told the padre it was to be used for the poor of his church, for she felt she could not touch it. And as he had saved her life, she gave it and her love to the brave man who had made her an orphan in the performance of his duty.