“You’ll know what it is after I have written it and you have read it over.�
The reader will see by all this that notwithstanding the years that had passed since any former meeting between these two men, Lynne nevertheless knew his man perfectly well. If he had permitted himself to be bullied at all, there would have been nothing for him to do but to comply with the demands that were made upon him. But, by pretending that he was at the point of consent, and then insisting upon certain useless forms, Lynne believed that an opportunity could be found to do the thing he had determined to attempt in order to escape from the present predicament.
“Where do you want to write it? At that desk over there?�
“Probably.�
“Have you got a gun, or any sort of weapon hidden away in that desk, where you can get your hand on it?�
“No.�
“Are you going to make that promise?�
“We will discuss that after you have consented to sign the paper I shall draw,� was the calm reply. “Not before.�
“All right. Go to the desk and write it. But, mind you, Lynne, I shall watch every move you make, and if I so much as see an indication on your part of trying to get out of this scrape, I’ll turn this gun loose, and you’ll get eight bullets in your back faster’n you could count ’em.�