“Were you addressing me?” he asked.
“I was,” said Witham quietly. “I was, in fact, inviting you to share our refreshment. You see we have just come in.”
“Then,” said the lad, “it was condemnable impertinence. Since you have taken this fellow up, couldn’t you teach him that it’s bad taste to thrust his company upon people who don’t want it, Dane?”
Witham said nothing, but drew Dane, who flushed a trifle, aside, and when they sat down the latter smiled dryly.
“You have taken on a big contract, Courthorne. How are you going to get the young ass out?” he said.
“Well,” said Witham, “it would gratify me to take him by the neck, but as I don’t know that it would please the Colonel if I made a public spectacle of one of his retainers, I fancy I’ll have to tackle the gambler. I don’t know him, but as he comes from across the frontier it’s more than likely he has heard of me. There are advantages in having a record like mine, you see.”
“It would, of course, be a kindness to the lad’s people—but the young fool is scarcely worth it, and it’s not your affair,” said Dane reflectively.
Witham guessed the drift of the speech, but he could respect a confidence, and laughed a little. “It’s not often I have done any one a good turn, and the novelty has its attractions.”
Dane did not appear contented with this explanation, but he asked nothing further, and the two sat watching the men about the table, who were evidently growing eager.
“That’s two hundred the kid has let go,” said somebody.