, too, the whole length of it
must be crossed before the implement shed be reached. This would add
another half a mile to the distance, for the field was long and narrow,
skirting as it did the hay slough which provided the ranch with hay. The
pasture was on the sloping side of the slough, and on the top of the
ridge stretched a natural fence of pines nearly two miles in extent.

The shed was erected for the accommodation of mowers, horse-rakes, and
the necessary appurtenances for haying. At one end, as Lablache had
said, was a living-room. It was called so by courtesy. It was little
better than the rest of the building, except that there was a crazy door
to it--also a window; a rusty iron stove, small, and--when a fire burned
in it--fierce, was crowded into a corner. Now, however, the stove was
dismantled, and lengths of stove pipe were littered about the floor
around it. A rough bed, supported on trestles, and innocent of bedding,
filled one end of this abode; a table made of packing cases, and two
chairs of the Windsor type, one fairly sound and the other minus a back,
completed the total of rude furniture necessary for a "hired man's"
requirements.

A living-room, the money-lender had said, therefore we must accept his
statement.

A reddish, yellow light from a dingy oil lamp glowed sullenly, and added
to the cheerlessness of the apartment. At intervals black smoke belched
from the chimney top of the lamp in response to the draughts which blew
through the sieve-like boarding of the shed. One must feel sorry for
the hired man whose lot is cast in such cheerless quarters.

It was past eleven. Lablache and John Allandale were seated at the
table. The lurid light did not improve the expression of their faces.

"Poker" John was eager--keenly eager now that Jacky had urged him to the
game. Moreover, he was sober--sober as the proverbial "judge." Also he
was suspicious of his opponent. Jacky had warned him. He looked very old
as he sat at that table. His senility appeared in every line of his
face; in every movement of his shaking hands; in every glance of his
bleared eyes.

Lablache, also, was changed slightly, but it was not in the direction of
age; he showed signs of elation, triumph. He felt that he was about to
accomplish the object which had long been his, and, at the same time,
outwit the half-breed who had so lately come into his life, with such
disastrous results to his, the money-lender's, peaceful enjoymen