I looked at the girl and remembered a painted face that had grinned at me from behind a wicket a little while before. At the thought of what it meant to her, I took a sudden resolve.
"If I can be of service, I shall be happy."
"I don't think you will regret it," said Big Sam. "Can you arrange it by this evening?"
"I can not promise. The conditions make a difficulty."
"True. But they are imperative. I must trust to your honor to carry them out. But I hope that you will remember that I stake my life on it."
I looked my surprise.
"It is quite true," he said simply. "My people are not troubled with scruples in the matter, and I must be security that the girl will be returned when the conditions I make are complied with."
"And these are--"
"That a worthy man of her race wishes to make her his wife, and is willing to settle the claims of the two tongs."
"The two tongs?"