lf to a touch on his elbow. One of his agents had a new
offer for the two saloons. It was still less than he considered the
business worth, but in his softened mood he said, "It goes!"

"Make out your papers," replied the other man, with almost equal
brevity.

During the rest of the evening the gambler sat above his lay-out with
mingled feelings of relief and regret. After all, he was in command
here. He knew this business, and he loved the companionship and the
admiration of the men who dropped round by his side to discuss the camp
or the weather, or to invite him to join a hunting trip. He felt himself
to be one of the chief men of the town, and that he could at any time
become their Representative if he chose. For some years (he couldn't
have told why) he had taken on a thrift unknown to him before, and had
been attending strictly to business. He now saw that it must have been
from a foreknowledge of Bertha. In him the superstitions of both miner
and gambler mingled. The cards had run against him for three years, now
they were falling in his favor. "I will take advantage of them," he
declared.

Slowly the crowd thinned out, and at one o'clock only a few inveterate
poker-players and one or two young fellows who were still "bucking" the
roulette wheel remained and, calling one of his men to take charge,
Haney nodded to Williams and they went out on the street.

As he reached the cold, crisp, deliciously rarefied air outside, he took
off his hat and involuntarily looked up at the stars blazing thick in
the deep-blue midnight sky. With solemn voice he said to his partner:
"Well, 'Spot,' right here Mart Haney's saloon business ends. We're all
in."

Williams felt that his partner was acting rashly. "Oh, I wouldn't say
that! You may get into it again."

"No--the little girl and her mother won't stand for it, and, besides,
what's the use? I don't need to do it, and if I'm ever going to see the
world now is my chance. I'm goin' back East to discover how many
brothers and sisters I have livin'. The old father is dodderin 'round
somewheres back there. I'll surprise him, too. Now, have those papers
all made out ready to sign by eleven o'clock to-morrow. I'm goin' down
the valley on the noon train."

"All right, Mart, but you're makin' a mistake."

"Never you mind, me bucko. 'Tis me own game, and the mines will take all
the gray matter you can spare."

As the big man was walking away towards his hotel a woman met him.