And now Darleton found himself regarded with intense indignation and disgust by all save the fellow who had attempted to come to his aid. Indeed, the indignation of the men was such that they threatened personal violence to the exposed rascal.
It seemed that the fellow would not escape from the room without being handled roughly. Before the outburst of indignation, his bravado and nerve wilted, and he became very humble and apprehensive.
No wonder he was alarmed for his own safety. Several of those present had lost heavily to him, and they demanded satisfaction of some sort.
“He has skinned me out of hundreds!” snarled one man. “I’ll take it out of his hide! I’ll break every bone in his dishonest body!”
Two men placed themselves before the infuriated one and tried to reason with him.
“What are you going to do?” he shouted. “Are you going to let him off without doing anything?”
“We’ll make him fork over what he has won to-night.”
“Little satisfaction that will be!”
“We’ll find how much money he has on his person and make him give that up.”
“That doesn’t satisfy me!”