Winston glanced at his companion, who nodded. "The young fool!" he said.
They crossed towards the table in time to see the lad take up his winnings again, and Winston laid his hand quietly upon his shoulder.
"Come along and have a drink while you give the rest a show," he said. "You seem to have done tolerably well, and it's usually wise to stop while the chances are going with you."
The lad turned and stared at him with languid insolence in his half-closed eyes, and, though he came of a lineage that had been famous in the old country, there was nothing very prepossessing in his appearance. His mouth was loose, his face weak in spite of its inherited pride, and there was little need to tell either of the men, who noticed his nervous fingers and muddiness of skin, that he was one who in the strenuous early days would have worn the woolly crown.
"Were you addressing me?" he asked.
"I was," said Winston 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?"
Winston 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 Winston, "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."