I shook hands with him. He was a traitor to me, and a thief, but I forgot it at the moment.
The trip home was without incident. We got up to Lorina's shortly after midnight. The whole gang was there: Foxy, Jumbo, Jim, Blondy, several of the young fellows, a dozen in all besides Freer and me. They were all gambling in the dining-room.
Lorina jumped up at the sight of us.
"Well?" she demanded.
"No good," I said. "The girl never came."
"Hm!" said Lorina. That was all.
It struck me that she must have known already that we had failed.
Lorina asked for her pistol, and I handed it over.
"Boys," said Lorina, "we'll go up to the office and have a council. I was just waiting for these two to come in. We've got to decide what we're going to do about this bull Enderby. He's active again."
There was something in the tone of this speech, or in the look which accompanied it, that caused the scalp behind my ears to draw and tingle. I began to wonder if I had not risked too much in venturing back into the lion's den this night. However, it was too late for regrets. I put the best face on it I could.