re than
the loss of McKeever--it would mean the ruin of everything. Did he dare
take the chance? Must he give up McKeever? The work of years of careful
education had been squandered on McKeever.

Fernand looked up, and his eyes rested on the calm face of Ronicky
Doone. Why had he never met a man like that before? There was an
assistant! There was a fellow with steel-cold nerve--worth a thousand
trained McKeevers! Then he glanced at the wounded man, cowering and
bunched in his chair. At that moment the gambler made up his mind to
play the game in the big way and pocket his losses.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said sadly, placing the cards back on the
edge of the table, "I am sorry to say that Mr. Doone is right. The pack
has been run up. There it is for any of you to examine it. I don't
pretend to understand. Most of you know that McKeever has been with me
for years. Needless to say, he will be with me no more." And, turning on
his heel, the old fellow walked slowly away, his hands clasped behind
him, his head bowed.

And the crowd poured after him to shake his hand and tell him of their
unshakable confidence in his honesty. McKeever was ruined, but the house
of Frederic Fernand was more firmly established than ever, after the
trial of the night.

Chapter Twenty

_Trapped!_

"Get the money," said Ronicky to Jerry Smith.

"There it is!"

He pointed to the drawer, where McKeever, as banker, had kept the money.
The wounded man in the meantime had disappeared.

"How much is ours?" asked Jerry Smith.

"All you find there," answered Ronicky calmly.

"But there's a big bunch--large bills, too. McKeever was loaded for
bear."

"He loses--the house loses it. Out in my country, Jerry, that wouldn't
be half of what the house would lose for a little trick like what's been
played on us tonight. Not the half of what the house would lose, I tell
you! He had us trimmed, Jerry, and out West we'd wreck this joint from
head to heels."

The diffident Jerry fingered the money in the drawer of the table
uncertainly. Ronicky Doone swept it up and thrust it into his pocket.
"We'll split straws later," said Ronicky. "Main thing we need right
about now is action. This coin will start us."

In the hall, as they took their hats, they found big Frederic Fernand in
the act of dissuading several of his clients from leaving. The incident
of the evening was regrettable, most regrettable, but such things would
happen when wild m