"By Gad! It's Bowl of the Mountains!" he cried. "And it's ours!"
"Maybe she's lying," said Stack.
"Who told you this?" Joe demanded to know.
Kitty nodded toward Ralph. She had not dared to look at him yet. "Now let him go!" she murmured.
Joe Mixer's little eyes glittered strangely; he was touched with a kind of awe. More than once he repeated "Bowl of the Mountains!" under his breath, as if he could not fully grasp the idea. Stack's ferret-like glance darted from the face of one man to another, trying to read the secret they shared; he was tortured by his exclusion. A strange sound of laughter broke from Ralph's lips, and all the men looked at him. At the call of his desperate need, he had partly overcome his weakness. He was playing his last card.
"You're easily taken in," he said scornfully. "It's likely I'd tell her!"
Kitty timidly raised her eyes to Ralph's. The scorn that blazed on her shrivelled up her very soul. She wondered how she could go on living after it.
"How do I know you ain't lying?" Joe asked her. "How did he come to tell you about the other woman?"
"I'll say no more," murmured Kitty.
Joe made a move toward Ralph's arm, and she sprang to her knees with a cry. "I'll tell you! It is true! I swear it! He was out of his head when he came—for two days. He told me in his fever. Over and over, he told me. I wrote it down. I thought it was just fancies until Annie came to-day, and then I knew it was true. Now let him go!"