“You’re on the steal, then?”

“Ready to take anything that counts.”

“This is the steel I deal in.”

One of the men, the fellow nearest him, felt something like a piece of ice pressed against his left temple.

He put up his hand.

The investigation did not afford him any particular pleasure, for what he touched sent a shiver through his whole frame.

It was a cold revolver.

“Move a hand or a foot and you are a dead man. And you also,” to the other fellow.

The board had just come off in this latter chap’s arms, and light from the house poured through the opening in a stream that was strong enough to show him the situation.

He dared not drop the board, and he was also prevented from attacking the unknown.