to a third
party. That party is a trusty--he gets out in three months from now and
has been having the run of the corridors as a repair man."

Wagg growled something.

"Oh yes, he will!" asseverated the convict. "He'll come out on time!
A fine show of yourself you'll make trying to dutch him. The pen is
mightier than the sword, but inside a prison pen the little screw driver
has 'em all faded when a trusty is the repair man. Cell door, tier
door, attic door--all attended to; ventilator grating likewise. Rope in
ventilator, up rope--out goes rope and down rope! Roof, wall, drop! Rear
window of second-hand shop. Outfit! Hike! Good start, till morning shows
the cot dummies! Truss rods of Wagner freight, blind baggage to Levant
on the 'tween-days train. Into the bush--and here!"

"With this added by me," put in the other convict. "That trusty was a
pal in the old days. He understands his friends' financial interest
is in this thing, and how we needed to get out sudden to tend to that
interest. We have given him our word. He took that word like it was a
certified check. And he's going to cash in on that word!"

"He sure is!" declared the short man. "We pass words instead of checks
in our business, and a man who lets his promise go to protest is crabbed
for keeps. We have incurred obligations so as to get in at the split."
He spread out his palm and tapped a digit into the center of it.
"Cash--here!"

"Strictly on a business basis, of course," said the tall man. "We don't
call for a special split for that trusty. It's a personal debt incurred
by Bill and me. We ask nobody to pay our personal debts. All we ask is
that debts due us be paid. And we're drawing a sight draft on you gents.
Bill and I are probably only a few jumps ahead of the dicks. Where's the
coin?"

He brutally thrust the question at Vaniman. The young man turned to
Wagg, seeking support in that crisis, believing that the affair could
be held on the basis of two against two in the interests of further
dilatory tactics. Wagg had been showing indignant protest against
the demands of the interlopers. But his corrugated face was smoothed
suddenly. He had evidently decided to cash in on the new basis. "That's
what I want to know--and what I have been trying to find out. Where's
the coin?"

The realignment--three against one--was menacing. Vaniman surveyed the
faces--the glowering demanding countenances, the eyes in which money
lust gleamed. He knew that the