"Five hundred dollars a-piece ain't much for the risk we run."
"We'll have more."
"How?"
"If we don't find more in the safe, we'll bleed him when all's over. He'll be in our power."
"Well, Bill, you know best. You've got a better head nor me."
"And a stouter heart, man. You're always afeared of something."
It was true that Bill was the leading spirit. He was reckless and desperate, while Mike was apt to count the cost, and dwell upon the danger incurred.
They had been associated more than once in unlawful undertakings; and though both had served a short term of imprisonment, they had in general escaped scot-free.
It was Bill who hung round the store, and who received from Talbot at the close of the afternoon the "combination," which was to make the opening of the safe comparatively easy.
"It's a good thing to have a friend inside," he said to his confederate. "Our money is as good as made."