“Have I been ill?”
“Well, you were about as ill as knockout drops could make you without doing you serious damage.”
“Knockout drops! Then it was no dream! Then I did talk like a fool to you in Atchison and run away! Then I did resolve to go straight to the devil in a hurry and try to make a start on the road! Then I really saw you at the prize fight just as the police broke in! Then I really did get in with a gang after that and drink with them! I have betrayed you, Frank! I ran away from you, like a miserable sneak! I felt I was doing a mean thing after I had started, but it was too late then!”
“It is never too late to mend, you know.”
“A fool said that! In my case, it is too late!”
Still he had said nothing of taking the money. Frank wondered at that.
“What made you follow me, Frank?” said Bart. “Why didn’t you let me go? You have bothered with me enough. There is no reason why you should do so any more. You must despise me now. Why did you follow me?”
“I thought I might overtake you in time to save you, but you fell into the hands of those toughs, and they stripped you. You did not have coat, hat, watch or money when I found you.”
“They didn’t get much money,” said Bart, “for I didn’t have much. My watch was valuable, of course, but——”
“What became of the money you had?” asked Frank.