“I believe that Levitt will catch him,” asserted the colonel.
“You don’t know my pard as well as I do,” returned the cowboy dejectedly. “I wonder if I couldn’t——” McGlory paused.
“Couldn’t what?” urged the colonel.
“Never mind now. I’m going out and see if I can’t do something.”
Billings stared steadily at the lad for a moment.
“All right,” said he, “go and do what you can. Remember I have confidence in you, and you’re not to breathe a word regarding what we have talked about. I shall have to get to New York before three o’clock. The bank closes then, and I’ve got to get that bullion. I’ll have to start in a fast car by one. Come back and report to me before I leave.”
“I’ll do it,” replied the cowboy, hurrying out of the room.
The colonel chuckled, threw himself back in a chair, and lighted a cigar.
“Easy, easy, easy!” he muttered. “I can wrap McGlory around my fingers and not half try. Now, if King is captured, and if I can be sure he won’t meddle with me to-night, everything will be serene.”
The resourceful colonel accepted his worries calmly. He had too much dignity to take part in a foot race, so he remained in a comfortable chair by the window and waited for news.