ey. I have proved that I have
quick eyesight, and I think that's all you wanted to know," and,
turning away he went back to his chair, at the farther end of the car.

CHAPTER VIII

A STOP FOR REPAIRS

For a few seconds the four men were too surprised to say anything.
They stood looking at each other and, when they had gone to the smoking
room, with an angry glance at Mr. Baker, Sutton remarked:

"I thought you said the kid would bite at this game?"

"I thought he would."

"Well, you've got another 'think' coming."

"Yes, you've bungled this thing all the way through," added Hynard.

"I didn't blunder any more than you did. I'd like to know who first
made his acquaintance, and found out he had money."

"Well, you did that part of it, but he's got his money yet, and we
haven't," said Tupper.

"And we're not likely to get it," went on Hynard. "I think he'll be
suspicious of us after this."

"Maybe not," remarked Sutton, hopefully. "We may be able to get him
into some other kind of a game. If we can't--"

He did not finish, but the other men knew what he meant. Roy had
incurred the enmity of some dangerous characters, and it behooved him
to be on the lookout.

The boy had not been in his seat many minutes before an elderly
gentleman, the one who had been describing the various scenes of
interest, came up to him.

"Did I see you playing some game with those men just now?" he asked.

"They were showing me a game," answered Roy. "They said they wanted to
test my quick eyesight."

"What was it?"

"It was a game with three shells and a small ball."

"I thought so. My boy, do you know what that game is called?"

"No, sir, but I didn't care to play it the way they wanted me to. They
wanted me to bet money."

"And you refused?"

"I sure did."

"That is where you were right. That is an old swindling trick, called
the 'shell game'. If you had bet any money you would have lost."

"I thought as much," said Roy. "I'm not so green as I look, even if I
spent all my life on a ranch."

"Indeed you are not, I am glad to see. I would advise you not to have
anything more to do with those men."

"Do you know them?"

"No, but they have the ways and airs of professional gamblers."

"They tried to rope me up, I guess," said Roy. "But they didn't have
rope enough to tie me. Now I know their brand I'll sure be careful not
to mix in with 'em."

"I don't exactly understand your terms. I--"