“I’ll take that gun of mine in your pocket first,” directed Teagler. “Never mind, I’ll get it.” Kirk tried to move an arm, then groaned in pain.
“Now, the necklace.”
Under a torrent of Kirk’s curses, the prospector reached in the pocket for the gems.
“That’s right,” sneered Kirk. “It ain’t enough for you to beat Coster out of his money. You’ve got to play hog and keep the jewels, too. How you goin’ to cash ’em, huh? You asked me that. I’m askin’ you.”
“That’s easy,” answered Teagler. “I’m going to cash them with Coster himself. He’s my best friend in the world. I told you he never punished me for that trick of mine. No, he gave me another chance, that’s why.
“I got away, got as far as the Mexican border. They grabbed me there, thanks to that circular. I had most of the money with me. Coster wouldn’t prosecute. He found out all about me and he wouldn’t prosecute.
“That isn’t all. He’s paying my girl’s way through school. He staked me up here. Salt of the earth, Ellsworth Coster. Why, he gave me that radio set, Kirk, when he came up here huntin’ last fall. This is my chance to pay him back.
“Sorry if I misled you about this up here bein’ my hide-out.”
“Then there isn’t any cache?” demanded Kirk. Teagler grinned.
“Well, your thinking there was saved my life,” he said. “I staked everything on getting you out on that porch. It was you that was the greedy one, Snapper.”