“Connor, what’s this girl business? Are we in it?”
Connor knew his men too well to temporize.
“You’re in it, if it’s worth anything,” he said slowly.
Bat’s close-cropped red head was thrust forward.
“Is there money in it?” he demanded.
Connor nodded his head.
“Much?”
Connor drew a deep breath. If the truth be told, that the “Lot” should share, was the last thing he had intended. But for the blundering of his agent, they would have remained in ignorance of the girl’s presence in the house. But the very suspicion of disloyalty was dangerous. He knew his men, and they knew him. There was not a man there who would hesitate to destroy him at the merest hint of treachery. Candor was the best and safest course.
“It’s pretty hard to give you any idea what I’ve got the girl here for, but there’s a million in it,” he began.
He knew they believed him. He did not expect to be disbelieved. Criminals of the class these men represented flew high. They were out of the ruck of petty, boasting sneak-thieves who lied to one another, knowing they lied, and knowing that their hearers knew they lied.