“I suppose not, but what has happened to-day hits me nearer home. If I can get Alice back——”
“You can,” said the scout, with quiet confidence.
“Well, when I do, I shall change my whole course of life. I shall never touch another card as long as I live. Alice and I will go back East, and I will return to my old profession and make another name for myself. I am only forty-five——”
“Just in your prime, Gentleman Jim!” interposed the scout heartily.
“Not too old to carve out another place for myself, do you think?”
“Certainly not!” and the scout reached over and caught his friend’s hand in a hearty grip. “You have too good stuff in you to waste your talents on cards and the green table.”
“Well, let us think for a little.” The gambler settled back in his chair. “The first hold-up gave Lawless the ring and the locket. He saw my picture in the locket, and my first name in the ring. From that it was easy for him to figure out that Alice was my wife, and that she was going to me at Sun Dance. By cutting across the arm of the gulch, he and his men could overtake the stage. On the way, Lawless wrote that note. When he came up with the stage, he found those aboard wrangling over what they were going to do to your friend, De Bray.”
“They had got over wrangling, I reckon,” said the scout. “De Bray had shown them twenty one-thousand-dollar bills, and had explained his actions. De Bray’s intentions were all right, and he would have won out, and nothing would have happened, if Billings hadn’t insisted on stopping the stage. As it is, Mrs. Brisco is missing, and so is De Bray’s twenty thousand, along with a little more money belonging to Pete and Hotchkiss. This ‘clean-up’ of mine, as Lawless has referred to it, is going to be comprehensive.” The scout’s eyes flashed resolutely. “We are not only going to rescue Mrs. Brisco, but we are also going to get back De Bray’s money, and wind up the career of Lawless into the bargain.”
Gentleman Jim, suddenly alert and feverishly eager, bounded to his feet.
“When do we start?” he asked.