"Did you notice the lad's astonishment when you came in?" he asked.
"He looked very much as if he had seen a ghost."

Winston smiled. "I believe he fancied he had. There was a man in the
district he came from, who some folks considered resembled me. In
reality, I was by no means like him, and he's dead now."

"Likenesses are curious things, and it's stranger still how folks
alter," said Dane. "Now, they've a photograph at Barrington's of you
as a boy, and while there is a resemblance in the face, nobody with any
discernment would have fancied that lad would grow into a man like you.
Still, that's of no great moment, and I want to know just how you
spotted the gambler. I had a tolerably expensive tuition in most games
of chance in my callow days, and haven't forgotten completely what I
was taught then, but though I watched the game, I saw nothing that led
me to suspect crooked play."

Winston laughed. "I watched his face, and what I saw there decided me
to try a bluff, but it was not until he turned the table over I knew I
was right."

"Well," said Dane dryly, "you don't need your nerves toned up. With
only a suspicion to go upon, it was a tolerably risky game. Still, of
course, you had advantages."

"I have played a more risky one, but I don't know that I have cause to
be very grateful for anything I acquired in the past," said Winston
with a curious smile.

Dane stood up and flung his cigar away. "It's time I was asleep," he
said. "Still, since our talk has turned in this direction, I want to
tell you that, as you have doubtless seen, there is something about you
that puzzles me occasionally. I don't ask your confidence until you
are ready to give it me--but if ever you want anybody to stand behind
you in a difficulty, you'll find me rather more than willing."

He went out, and Winston sat still, very grave in face, for at least
another hour.

CHAPTER XIV

A FAIR ADVOCATE

Thanks to the fashion in which the hotel keeper managed the affair, the
gambler left the settlement without personal injury, but very little
richer than when he entered it. The rest of those who were present at
his meeting with Winston were also not desirous that their friends
should know that they had been victimized, and because Dane was
discreet news of what had happened might never have reached Silverdale
had not one of the younger men ridden in to the railroad a few days
later. Odd scraps of conversation overhea