“Then what the deuce do you want?” Hanna demanded.
“Ten thousand cash, or a certified check payable to Henry Power. I figure that’s about the amount you’ve got out of him so far.”
Hanna exploded a tremendous and astonished oath. His eyes and forehead wrinkled up like a bulldog’s, and he stared at Lockwood venomously.
“What’s your game?” he exclaimed. “Who are you, anyway? I know I’ve seen you outside of Alabama.”
“No, you don’t know me, Hanna,” said Lockwood with equal animosity. “My only game is to beat you and break you. You’d better not go back to Rainbow Landing yourself. Or go, if you like, and I’ll meet you and beat you on your own ground.”
“That’s to be seen,” Hanna returned, resuming apparent coolness. “I could blacken your name so that the boys would shoot you on sight. But no use quarreling. I’ve made you an offer. I’ll split the game, but I won’t spoil it. What do you say? It’s your last chance.”
“It’s yours,” said Lockwood. “Will you disgorge, or are you going to go back to Rainbow Landing and risk it. You’ll be jailed or shot.”
Hanna grinned at him across the desk without saying anything. Lockwood walked to the door, opened it, and turned back. If he expected Hanna to back down at the last moment, he was disappointed. The confidence man still grinned derisively, and Lockwood went out.
He felt agitated and flurried now, sorry, too, that he had become involved in a wordy wrangle, sorry that he had showed his hand. His great need now was to get back as fast as possible to Rainbow Landing, for he knew well that Hanna would waste no moments now. There was a train at three o’clock, and his watch said that it was noon.
For greater certainty he determined to get into touch with Louise at once. There was no telegraph connection, but there was the telephone, and he went to the city central office, and asked to be put through, but at last he had to give it up. There was just time to get his suit case at the hotel and go to the depot. When he arrived there he learned that the time had been changed, and that his train had been gone half an hour.