oin which he had
accumulated but these were curiously overlooked, and what was even more
remarkable, he displayed no unseemly celeritude in returning to what was
plainly a very profitable divertisement.

Then the tenderfoot, comprehending, was obsessed by a great desire to go
somewhere and he moved nervously in his chair. The hand of the man
beside him had dropped carelessly to his side and involuntarily he
shifted his chair a little farther away. He wished now that he had gone
home. But the pride inherent in every man worthy of the name chained him
to his seat. He paled perceptibly, but Williams, watching him cynically
out of the corner of his eye, gave a grin of appreciative surprise at
the resolute squaring of his jaw and firm compression of lips.

"Blamed if the kid isn't game!" he ejaculated under his breath. "But all
the same, if I was him I'd mosey off a leetle to one side--and that _muy
pronto_. The work's apt to be a bit wild in all this yere durned smoke."

Then Douglass did a generous thing.

"I think," said he quietly to the young stranger, "that Blount over
there wants to speak to you."

The youngster looked him squarely in the eyes. "I don't know Blount--and
if I did it can wait." He was going to see it out side by side with this
man, come what might.

Matlock was no fool. As he halted with a swagger beside his men, one of
them spoke quickly in an undertone and he looked calculatingly about the
room. Something in the unfriendly silence warned him that this time his
metal would be fairly put to the test and the sheer cowardice of the man
shrank from the ordeal. He would wait for more propitious conditions and
with a well-simulated nonchalance he ordered drinks for the house. The
scant acceptance of his hospitality flooded his bloodshot eyes with
impotent rage, but he made no comment thereon. He merely remarked that
it was time to hit the trail, ignoring the titter of contemptuous
surprise and disgust which greeted the announcement. Was this the thing
he had foresworn so rabidly a scant four hours before! Someone laughed
jeeringly and he whirled like a kicked cur, the fires of hell in his
eyes.

"If anyone here's got any objections--!" he began furiously but he had
been weighed and found wanting and the strain had been relaxed. The
whole room was broadly smiling. Douglass's vis-a-vis had returned to his
seat, and even the tenderfoot was laughing in pure relief.

Matlock's undoing was so complete tha