s got to work like a slave every day."

"But how come you felt them scars pricking as a bad-luck sign, Ronicky?"
he asked after a time. "Is there anything that's gone wrong, far as you
see?"

"I dunno," said Ronicky gravely. "Maybe not, and maybe so. I ain't a
prophet, but I don't like having everything so smooth--not when they's a
gent like the man with the sneer on the other end of the wire. It means
he's holding back some cards on us, and I'd sure like to see the color
of what he's got. What I'm going to work for is this, Bill: To get
Caroline's brother, Jerry Smith, and rustle him out of town."

"But how can you do that when John Mark has a hold on him?"

"That's a pile of bunk, Bill. I figure Mark is just bluffing. He ain't
going to turn anybody over to the police. Less he has to do with the
police the happier he'll be. You can lay to that. Matter of fact, he's
been loaning money to Caroline's brother. You heard her say that. Also,
he thinks that Mark is the finest and most generous gent that ever
stepped. Probably a selfish skunk of a spoiled kid, this brother of
hers. Most like he puts Mark up as sort of an ideal. Well, the thing to
do is to get hold of him and wake him up and pay off his debts to Mark,
which most like run to several thousand."

"Several thousand, Ronicky? But where'll we get the money?"

"You forget that I can always get money. It grows on the bushes for me."
He grinned at Bill Gregg.

"Once we get Jerry Smith, then the whole gang of us will head straight
West, as fast as we can step. Now let's hit the hay."

Never had the mind of Ronicky Doone worked more quickly and surely to
the point. The case of Jerry Smith was exactly what he had surmised. As
for the crime of which John Mark knew, and which he held like a club
over Jerry Smith, it had been purely and simply an act of self-defense.
But, to Caroline and her brother, Mark had made it seem clear that the
shadow of the electric chair was before the young fellow.

Mark had worked seriously to win Caroline. She was remarkably dexterous;
she was the soul of courage; and, if he could once make her love her
work, she would make him rich. In the meantime she did very well indeed,
and he strengthened his hold on her through her brother. It was not hard
to do. If Jerry Smith was the soul of recklessness, he was the soul of
honor, also, in many ways. John Mark had only to lead the boy toward a
life of heavy expenditures and gaming, lending him,