. But there'll be other chances,
won't they? I kin git in ag'in?"

"Of course. To-morrow. Possibly this afternoon."

"And I kin take this now?" Scattergood had his hands on the six thousand
dollars; was handling it greedily.

"It's yours," said Mr. Peaney.

"Calc'lated it was," said Scattergood. "Calc'lated it was.... Now
where's Ovid?"

Mr. Peaney stared. Something had happened suddenly to this countryman.
He was no longer fatuous, futile. His face was no longer foolish and
good-natured; it was; granite--it was the face of a man with force, and
the skill to use that force.

"Where's Ovid?" he demanded again.

"Ovid ... Ovid who? I don't know any Ovid."

He became suddenly alarmed and blocked the way to the door.
Scattergood's eyes twinkled. "If I was you I wouldn't git in the way to
any extent. Feelin' the way I do I sh'u'dn't be s'prised if I got a
certain amount of satisfaction out of tramplin' over you."

"Hey, you put that money back ..."

"Mine, hain't it? Gained it lawful, didn't I?"

He walked slowly toward the door, and Mr. Peaney, still barring the way,
found himself sitting suddenly in an adjacent corner. Scattergood walked
calmly past and made for the back room.

"Stop him!" shouted Mr. Peaney. "Don't let him go in there."

But Scattergood proceeded methodically, leaving no less than three of
Mr. Peaney's employees in recumbent postures along his line of march....
Pansy followed him closely, pale, but resolute. He ascended the stairs,
and, finding the door at the top fastened from within, he removed it
bodily by the application of a calk-studded boot.... Ovid Nixon was
disclosed cowering against the wall, pale, terrified.

"Howdy, Ovid?" said Scattergood, as if he had met the young man casually
on the street. "How d'you find yourself?"

Ovid remained mute.

"Fetched a friend to see you, Ovid," said Scattergood. "This is her." He
pushed Pansy forward. "Find her better comp'ny than you been havin'
recent," he said. "She's got suthin' fer you.... When she gits through
visitin' with you, I calculate to have a word to say.... Here, Pansy,
you kin give this here to Ovid." He counted off three thousand dollars
before the young man's staring eyes.

"I--I'm glad I'm found," Ovid said, tremulously. "I was making up my
mind to give myself up...."

"What fer?" said Scattergood.

"You know--you know I took three thousand dollars out of the vault."

"Vault don't show nothin' short," said Scatterg