"Ain't enough t' go 'round," laughed McPhail. "Besides, I can't have it. Link an' I own the biggest share in 'im, an' we can't have him hurt."
McIlvaine and Vance grinned. "That's a fact, Mac. We four fellers are the main losers. He's ours, an' we can't have him foundered 'r crippled 'r cut up in any way. Ain't that woman of his gritty?"
"Gritty ain't no name for her. She's goin' into business."
"So I hear. They say Jim was crawling around a little yesterday. I didn't see 'im.
"I did. He looks pretty streak-id—now you bet."
"Wha'd he say for himself?"
"Oh, said give 'im time—he'd fix it all up."
"How much time?"
"Time enough. Hain't been able to look at a book since. Say, ain't it a little curious he was so sick just then—sick as a p'isened dog?"
The two men looked at each other in a manner most comically significant. The thought of poison was in the mind of each.