But Speed joined his friends with the most cheerful of greetings.
They responded nervously, shocked at his flippant assurance.
"This, Mr. Speed, is the scene of your defeat!" Gallagher made the introduction.
"And this is Mr. Skinner, no doubt?" Wally shook hands with the Centipede runner, who stared at him, refused to recognize his knowing wink, and turned away. "You think pretty well of yourself, don't you?" suggested Gallagher unpleasantly, and Speed laughed. There was no reason why he should not laugh. Either way his hour had come.
"I s'pose that satchel is full of money?" Gallagher pointed to the suitcase.
"On the contrary, it is full of clothes. It is I who contain the money." He thrust a cold palm into his pocket as Covington dragged him aside to advise him not to be an utter idiot, to throw his money away if he must, but to throw it to charity or to his friends.
"Yes," Glass seconded, lugubriously, "and hold out enough to buy me a Gates Ajar in immortelles." But he said also, as if to himself, "He may be wrong in the burr, but he's a game little guy."
As the Centipede foreman counted the money, Helen came forward, announcing:
"You'll have to win now, won't you, Mr. Speed? I've wagered five hundred dollars on you. I bet against Mr. Fresno." "Fresno! So he's out from cover at last, eh?"
"I haven't been under cover," spoke up the Californian. "I've been wise all along."