He was a man of plan and method; he had passed his life in routine. That rattle-brained gallop must have offended every instinct in him.
“I’ll not get on that train. I’ll go no farther. I’ll appeal to the police,” he raved. “Give me my share of that money and I’ll go home.”
“I have mixed it all together—gambling money and all! I would not have you traveling on gambling money, Judge.” My pertness added to his anger.
“I’ll have you arrested, so help me—”
“Hold on before you put the binding word to that oath, Judge Kingsley. If you dare to put me in the jug away out here away from home, I’ll yank you in as an embezzler of town money—and I’ve got an uncle who is first selectman of the town! A little telegraphing will do the trick. Now let’s both of us throw away our bombs. The fuses are sizzling! Climb aboard.”
He ground his teeth and climbed!
A fine sort of a brindled, cross-eyed hen was I setting to hatch my son-in-law hopes! But a mood of recklessness was sweeping me then.
I did not buy tickets; I paid cash fares to the conductor, naming a station I culled from the folder. I was not sure what the limits of the Potlatch country were; I proposed to drop in with somebody on the train, if I could manage it discreetly, and post myself by asking questions.
I saw no likely subjects in the car where we were riding—the passengers were mostly women—so I slicked up my silk hat, fixed it at a confident and compelling angle, and went out into the smoking-car.
As I have just said, the spirit of recklessness was flaming in me. I did not dare to let it die down. I lashed my courage and my craziness both together. I was bitterly afraid I might drop back into that paralyzing despondency I had felt back there on the Dakota prairies. That meant that I would become a useless quitter. Only by dint of holding myself in that desperate mood where I proposed to let chance have its way with me, and to grab in on anything that offered, would I have gone through so brazenly with the affair on which I soon found myself entering. It was merely another gamble, it seemed to me after I was in it. It was taking my mind off my more private affairs, even as the poker game had distracted my attention.