Mallory was about to intervene for the protection of the guileless physician when the conductor chanced to saunter in.
The gambler, seeing him, snatched Dr. Temple's cards from his hand and slipped the pack into his pocket.
"What's the matter now?" Dr. Temple asked, but the newcomer huskily answered: "Wait a minute. Wait a minute."
The conductor took in the scene at a glance and, stalking up to the table, spoke with the grimness of a sea-captain: "Say, I've got my eye on you. Don't start nothin'."
The stranger stared at him wonderingly and demanded: "Why, what you drivin' at?"
"You know all right," the conductor growled, and then turned on the befuddled old clergyman, "and you, too."
"Me, too?" the preacher gasped.
"Yes, you, too," the conductor repeated, shaking an accusing forefinger under his nose. "Your actions have been suspicious from the beginning. We've all been watching you."
Dr. Temple was so agitated that he nearly let fall his secret. "Why, do you realize that I'm a——"
"Ah, don't start that," sneered the conductor, "I can spot a gambler as far as I can see one. You and your side partner here want to look out, that's all, or I'll drop you at the next tank." Then he walked out, his very shoulder blades uttering threats.