“If you’ll leave the thing entirely in my hands, I’ll see what can be done,” he said. “I’ll have to tell Bethune.”
“I’ll do whatever you want, if you’ll help me out,” Jake answered eagerly, and after asking some questions about his losses, Dick went to Bethune’s shack.
Bethune listened thoughtfully to what he had to say, and then remarked: “We’ll take it for granted that you mean to see him through. Have you enough money?”
“No; that’s why I came.”
“You must get the check back, anyhow,” said Bethune, who opened a drawer and took out a roll of paper currency. “Here’s my pile, and it’s at your service, but it won’t go far enough.”
“I think it will, with what I can add,” said Dick, after counting the bills. “You see, I don’t mean to pay the full amount.”
Bethune looked at him and smiled. “Well, that’s rather unusual, but if they made him drunk and the game was not quite straight! Have you got his promise not to play again?”
“I haven’t. What I’m going to do will make it awkward, if not impossible. Besides, he’ll have no money. I’ll stop what he owes out of his pay.”
“A good plan! However, I won’t lend you the money; I’ll lend it Jake, which makes him responsible. But your pay’s less than mine, and you’ll have to economize for the next few months.”
“That won’t matter,” Dick answered quietly. “I owe Fuller something, and I like the lad.”