"Sufferin' chinks!" breathed the cowboy. "Didn't I tell you? Say, didn't I? What's hit him now?"
"I'll read you the message, Joe."
"Go ahead. All I want you to do, pard, is just to remember what you promised me."
"'Esteemed friend,'" read Matt, "'and highly treasured assistant in time of storm——'"
"Speak to me about that!" grunted the disgusted McGlory. "His word box is full of beadwork."
"'Again I call from the bottomless pit of distress,'" continued Matt, "'and from this place named Gardenville announce the duplicity of Sam Wing, who suddenly absented himself from the train with my supply of cash and the Eye of Buddha. Having no money, I have requested of the honorable telegraph company to receive pay from you. If——'"
"He's lost the ruby!" gasped McGlory, "and Sam Wing is the guilty man! Oh, Moses, what a throwdown! Why, I had a notion Sam Wing thought the sun rose and set in Tsan Ti. And Sam Wing lifted the ruby and the mandarin's funds and hot-footed it for parts unknown! Well, well!"
"'If,'" continued Matt, continuing the reading, "'I cannot recover the priceless gem, then nothing is left for me but the yellow cord. Hasten, noble youth, and aid in catching the miserable Sam Wing.' That's all, Joe," finished Matt, with a frown.
"Then drop it in the waste basket and let's settle our bill and start for the landing. It's a quarter to eleven. While you're paying up I'll go to the room after our grips."
The cowboy started impatiently to his feet. Matt continued to sit in his chair, frowning and peering into vacancy.