“It’s some consolation to think you’ve had to pay for your amusement,” Dick answered sourly.
Jake smiled. “On the contrary, I found it profitable. You make a mistake that’s common with serious folks, by taking it for granted that a cheerful character marks a fool.” He put his hand in his pocket and brought it out filled with silver coin. “Say, what do you think of this?”
“Put the money back,” Dick said sharply, for there was a second-rate wine-shop not far off and a group of untidy half-breeds lounged about its front. Jake, however, took out another handful of silver.
“My luck was pretty good; I reckon it says something for me that I knew when to stop.”
He jingled the money as he passed the wine-shop, and Dick, looking back, thought one of the men inside got up, but nobody seemed to be following them when they turned into another street. This was the nearest way to the doctor’s, but it was dark and narrow, and Dick did not like its look.
“Keep in the middle,” he warned Jake.
They were near the end of the street when two men came out of an arch and waited for them.
“Have you a match, señor?” one who held a cigarette in his hand asked.
“No,” said Dick suspiciously. “Keep back!”
“But it is only a match we want,” said the other, and Jake stopped.