d with cahds, even if they are crooked cahds,
and not guns, sah!"

"Crooked!" breathed Blacksnake. "Are yuh hintin' that I'm a crook?"

"I'm not hintin'," said The Kid, with a flashing smile. "I'm sayin' it
right out. The aces in that deck were marked in the cornahs with
thumb-nail scratches. It might have gone hahd with me, if I hadn't
mahked the othah cahds too--with thumb-nail scratches!"

"Yuh admit yuh marked them cards?" yelled Blacksnake in fury. "What
about it, men? He's a cheat and ought to be strung up!"

Most of the onlookers were doing their best to conceal grins, and even
Blacksnake's sympathizers made no move to do anything. Perhaps The
Kid's two drawn six-shooters had something to do with it.

"Yuh got two thousand dollars from this game--twenty hundred even,"
Blacksnake snarled. "Are yuh goin' to return that money?"

"I'll put the money wheah it belongs," the Texan drawled. "Gentlemen,
when I said I wasn't a gamblin' man, I meant it. I nevah gamble. But
when I saw that this game was not a gamble, but just a cool robbery, I
sat in."

He holstered one of his guns and swooped up the pile of money from the
center of the table. This cleaned it, save for one pile of chips in
front of the bearded bully.

"It's customary," said Kid Wolf, "always to kick in with a chip fo' the
'kitty,' and so----"

His Colt suddenly blazed. There was a quick finger of orange-colored
fire and a puff of smoke. The top chip of Blacksnake's stack suddenly
had disappeared, neatly clipped off by The Kid's bullet. And the Texan
had shot casually from the hip, apparently without taking aim!

Kid Wolf returned his still-smoking gun to its holster, turned his back
and sauntered leisurely toward the door. Halfway to it, he turned
quickly. He did not draw his guns again, but only looked Blacksnake
steadily in the eyes.

"Remembah," he said, "that I can see yo' in the mirrah."

With an oath, Blacksnake took his hand away from his gun butt, toward
which it had been furtively traveling. He had forgotten about the
bullet-scarred glass over the long bar.

As the Texan strolled through the door, a man who had been watching the
scene turned to follow him.

"Kid Wolf," he called, "I'd like to see yuh, alone."

The voice was friendly. Kid Wolf turned, and as he did so, he jostled
the speaker, apparently by accident.

"Excuse me," drawled the Texan. "I didn't know yo' were so close
behind me."

"I'm a friend,"