He pressed it tenderly. “Jes' you say the word,” he whispered, “an' in a few hours I'll be back here with the coin. Shipton's bank is dead easy an' he is a money devil with a cold heart.” The old man laughed and took the revolver from him.
“It's hard, I know, Jack, to give up old ways. I must have made po' Cap'n Tom's and Shiloh's case out terrible to tempt you like that. But not even for them—no—no—not even for them. Set down.”
Jack sat down, subdued. Then the Bishop pulled out a paper from his pocket and chuckled.
“Now, Jack, you're gwinter have the laugh on me, for the old mood is on me an' I'm yearnin' to do this jes' like you yearn to hold up the bank ag'in. It's the old instinct gettin' to wurk. But, Jack, you see—this—mine—ain't so bad. God sometimes provides in an onexpected way.”
“What is it?” asked Jack.
The old man chuckled again. Then Jack saw his face turn red—as if half ashamed: “Why should I blame you, Jack, fur I'm doin' the same thing mighty nigh—I'm longin' for the flesh pots of Egypt. As I rode along to-day thinkin'—thinkin'—thinkin'—how can I save the children an' Cap'n Tom, how can I get a little money to send Cap'n Tom off to the Doctor—an' also repeatin' to myself—'The Lord will provide—He will provide—' I ran up to this, posted on a tree, an' kinder starin' me an' darin' me in the face.”
He laughed again: “Jes' scolded you, Jack, but see here. See how the old feelin' has come over me at sight of this bragging, blow-hard challenge. It makes my blood bile.
“Race horse?—Why, Richard Travis wouldn't know a real race horse if he had one by the tail. It's disgustin'—these silk-hat fellers gettin' up a three-cornered race, an' then openin' it up to the valley—knowin' they've put the entrance fee of fifty dollars so high that no po' devil in the County can get in, even if he had a horse equal to theirs.
“Three thousan' dollars!—think of it! An' then Richard Travis rubs it in. He's havin' fun over it—he always would do that. Read the last line ag'in—in them big letters:
“'Open to anything raised in the Tennessee Valley.'