e spoke, his tone was more conciliatory.

"Have you heard from Washington?" he asked.

"I got a telegram this morning, saying that the matter is under
advisement."

"Under advisement!" Moran snorted, in disgust. "That means that they'll
get the cavalry here in time to fire a volley over our graves--ashes to
ashes and dust to dust. What are you going to do about it?"

Rexhill blew a huge mouthful of fragrant smoke into the air.

"Frankly, Race, I don't think you're in a proper mood to talk."

"You're right." Something in Moran's voice suggested the explosion of a
fire-arm, and the Senator looked at him curiously. "I'm through talking.
We've both of us talked too damn much, and that's a fact."

"I'll be obliged to you," the Senator remarked, "if you'll remember that
you draw a salary from me and that you owe me a certain amount of
respect."

Moran laughed raucously.

"Respect! I don't owe you a damn thing, Senator; and what you owe me you
won't be able to pay if you sit here much longer waiting for something
to turn up. You'll be ruined, that's what you'll be--ruined!" He brought
his big hand down on the table with a thump.

"By your own carelessness. Now, look here, Race, I've made allowances
for you, because...."

"You don't need to soft soap me, Senator; save that for your office
seekers." The agent was fast working himself into another passion. "I've
not ruined you, and you know it. A safe's a safe, isn't it? Instead of
ruining you, I'm trying to save you. If you go broke, you'll do it
yourself with your pap and sentiment. But if I am to pull your chestnuts
out of the fire for you, you've got to give me a free hand. I've got to
fight fire with fire."

Rexhill wiped his glasses nervously, for despite his assumption of calm,
his whole future swung upon the outcome of his Crawling Water venture.
If he appeared calm, it was not because he felt so, but because the
schooling of a lifetime had taught him that the man who keeps cool
usually wins.

"There's nothing to do but go on as we are headed now," he declared.
"Wade's discovery of our purpose is most unfortunate"--his voice shook a
trifle--"but it can't be helped. In the legal sense, he has added to the
list of his crimes, and we have more against him than we ever had. He
now has three charges to face--murder, assault, and robbery. It rests
with us whether he shall be punished by the courts for any of the
three."

The Senator spoke emphatically in the e