"We might just as well," said Matt.
Matt's failure to keep the ruby was preying on his spirits. He couldn't help what had happened, but the sting of failure, when he always prided himself on "making good," was hard to bear.
"Buck up, pardy!" cried McGlory. "Old Tsan Ti can't find any fault with you."
"I know that. I'm thinking, though, we weren't cautious enough in going aboard that boat."
"Cautious? Tell me about that! Who wouldn't have been fooled, when the game was worked like Grattan worked it? I don't know how any one could have helped what happened."
"Anyhow," said Matt, "we fell down. It might have been just as well if I had disobeyed Tsan Ti's instructions and placed the ruby in some bank vault."
"But the mandarin said no. You carried out orders to the letter, and that's what lost us the ruby."
"We were to stay in the Catskills, and we didn't. Because we broke over our instructions, we fell into the hands of Grattan."
"He'd have got at you somehow even if we'd stayed in Catskill. I never saw such a man to keep after a thing he's set his mind on. Now, if we——"
"Train's comin'," called the man, stepping upon the track and waving the lantern.