of them signed to the hotel keeper.

"What's going on? The boys seem kind of keen," he said.

The other man laughed a little. "Ferris has struck a streak of luck,
but I wouldn't be very sorry if you got him away, Mr. Courthorne. He
has had as much as he can carry already, and I don't want anybody broke
up in my house. The boys can look out for themselves, but the
Silverdale kid has been losing a good deal lately, and he doesn't know
when to stop."

Winston glanced at his companion, who nodded. "The young fool!" he
said.

They crossed towards the table in time to see the lad take up his
winnings again, and Winston laid his hand quietly upon his shoulder.

"Come along and have a drink while you give the rest a show," he said.
"You seem to have done tolerably well, and it's usually wise to stop
while the chances are going with you."

The lad turned and stared at him with languid insolence in his
half-closed eyes, and, though he came of a lineage that had been famous
in the old country, there was nothing very prepossessing in his
appearance. His mouth was loose, his face weak in spite of its
inherited pride, and there was little need to tell either of the men,
who noticed his nervous fingers and muddiness of skin, that he was one
who in the strenuous early days would have worn the woolly crown.

"Were you addressing me?" he asked.

"I was," said Winston quietly. "I was in fact inviting you to share
our refreshment. You see we have just come in."

"Then," said the lad, "it was condemnable impertinence. Since you have
taken this fellow up, couldn't you teach him that it's bad taste to
thrust his company upon people who don't want it, Dane?"

Winston said nothing, but drew Dane, who flushed a trifle, aside, and
when they sat down the latter smiled dryly.

"You have taken on a big contract, Courthorne. How are you going to
get the young ass out?" he said.

"Well," said Winston, "it would gratify me to take him by the neck, but
as I don't know that it would please the Colonel if I made a public
spectacle of one of his retainers, I fancy I'll have to tackle the
gambler. I don't know him, but as he comes from across the frontier
it's more than likely he has heard of me. There are advantages in
having a record like mine, you see."

"It would, of course, be a kindness to the lad's people--but the young
fool is scarcely worth it, and it's not your affair," said Dane
reflectively.

Winston guessed the dr