“Nossir. Didn’t need to, Rance. There was other men at that table, and they had eyes in their heads. I tell yuh, Angel made a big mistake.”

“Four thousand dollars would have busted him flat.”

“Nobody hates a square gambler that goes busted.”

“Do yuh reckon they’re sayin’ that Angel crooked me out of that twenty-five hundred?”

“Mebby not sayin’ it, Rance.”

“Believin’ it, anyway.”

“Somethin’ like that. I look for Angel to sell out or close up pretty quick.”

“He’s got everythin’ he owns tied up in the Eagle.”

“Owns!” snorted Chuckwalla. “He didn’t own anythin’. You was a big enough fool to give him a third of the Circle Spade stock. He didn’t deserve anythin’. You paid him a puncher’s salary since he was big enough to work, and then gave him that split of the stock. You’re a fool, Rance.”

“Mebby.”