now, when
action, when simple force of character were his chief assets, he was
called upon, or he had called upon himself, to undertake the difficult
task of making a youth, big, strong, hot-headed, mad with the newly
tasted joy of living, detach himself from his new life.

Nor was he without qualms when he passed the portals of the hotel,
which ranked second only in ill-fame to Pap Shaunbaum's.

If the Gridiron possessed less ill-fame than its contemporary it was
not because its proprietor was any less a "hold-up" than Pap. It was
simply that his methods were governed by a certain circumspection. He
cloaked his misdoings under a display of earnest endeavor in the better
direction. For instance, every room displayed a printed set of
regulations against anything and everything calculated to offend the
customer of moral scruples--if such an one could be discovered in
Leaping Horse. Dan McCrae enforced just as many of these regulations
as suited him. And, somehow, for all he had drawn them up himself,
none of them ever seemed to suit him. But they had their effect on his
business. It became the fashion of the men of greater substance to
make it a headquarters. And it was his boast that more wealth passed
in and out of his doors than those of any house in Leaping Horse,
except the bank.

Dan only desired such custom. He possessed a hundred and one pleasant
wiles for the loosening of the bank rolls of such custom. No man ever
left his establishment after a brief stay without considerably less
bulging pockets.

When Dan espied the entrance of John Kars from behind the glass
partition, which divided his office from the elaborate entrance hall,
he lost no time in offering a personal welcome. Kars was his greatest
failure in Leaping Horse, just as Pap had had to admit defeat. That
these two men had failed to attract to their carefully baited traps the
richest man in the country, a man unmarried, too, a man whose home
possessed no other attraction than that of a well-furnished apartment,
was a disaster too great for outward lamentation.

But neither despaired, even after years of failure. Nor did they ever
lose an opportunity. It was an opportunity at this moment.

"Glad to see you back, Mr. Kars." The small, smiling, dangerous Dan
was the picture of frank delight. "Leaping Horse misses her big men.
Had a pleasant vacation?"

Kars had no illusions.

"Can't call a business trip a vacation," he said with