immediate need. Not a little of his
captiousness with Mary V was caused by his secret worry over his empty
pockets. He grinned ruefully when the thought struck him that, if the
bald truth were known, he himself did not have much more than the price
of one joyride in his own machine! He had been seriously considering
asking Curley for a loan when that staunch little friend returned from
the search, but it galled his pride to borrow money from any one.
Bland's idea began to look not only feasible but brilliant. It would
establish at once his independence and furnish concrete proof to Mary V
that his determination to fly was based on sound business principles.
Supposing he only took up four or five passengers a day, he would make
more money than he could earn in two weeks at any other occupation.

Bland seemed to read this thought. "You can count on an average of ten
a day, bo--that's a hundred dollars. Sometimes, like on Sundays, it
would run to two and three hundred bones. I guess that will let you
throw your feet under the table regular--what?"

"What about you?" Johnny asked, looking up at him studiedly.

"Me? I'll tell yuh, bo. You give me the second ten bucks you take in.
You keep the rest until the tenth passenger, and give me that, and then
the fifteenth. And you pay all expenses. That's fair enough, ain't
it? I'll make good money when you make better. Any exhibition work,
you give me half, because it'll really be me that's pulling off the
stunts. The public needn't be wise to that. You as Skyrider Johnny,
see. I'm just anybody, for the present."

"Why all this modesty to-day? When you first wanted to go in with me,
I couldn't call you no violet, Bland. You said then that your name was
worth a lot."

Bland's loose lips parted in a crafty grin. "It is worth a lot, bo--to
keep it under cover right now. One of them newspaper guys reminded me
of somebody. I don't think he remembered me--but it wouldn't do us no
good now to joggle his memory, bo. I ain't saying he's got anything on
me--only--"

"Only he has," Johnny rounded out the sentence dryly. "All right. I'm
willing to play that way till I find out more about you. We'll try
your scheme out. It can't do any hurt."

He went off to the shed where all sorts of things were stored, looking
for lamp black. And Bland, seeing ready money just ahead, overlooked
Johnny's blunt distrust of him, and pulled the corners of his mouth out
of their