Gavilan fiasco. When such goodly sums are expended to procure the
downfall of Kid Mitchell--an event as yet unexpectedly delayed--there's
money in it somewhere. Big money! I know it. And I mean to touch some
of it. My unknown benefactor shall have my every assistance to attain his
hellish purpose--hellish purpose, I believe, is the phrase proper to the
complexion of this affair. Then, to use the words of the impulsive
Hotspur, slightly altered to suit the occasion, I'll creep upon him while
he lies asleep, and in his ear I'll whisper--Snooks!"

"You don't know where he lives," said Zurich.

"Ah, but you do! I beg your pardon, Zurich--perhaps in my thoughtlessness
I have wounded you. I used the wrong pronoun. I did not mean to say
'I'--much less 'you'--in reference to who should hollo 'Halves!' to our
sleeping benefactor. 'We' was the word I should have used."

Zurich regarded Mr. Dewing in darkling silence; and that gentleman, in no
way daunted, continued gayly:

"I see that the same idea has shadowed itself to you. You must consider
us--Eric and I--equals in that enterprise, friend Mayer. Three good
friends together. I begin to fear we have sadly underestimated Eric--you
and I. By our own admission--and his--he is a better fighting man than
either of us. You wouldn't want to displease him."

"I think you go about it in an ill way to remedy a mistake, Dewing," said
Zurich. "Don't let's be silly enough to fall out over one chance gone
wrong. We've got all we can attend to right now, without such a folly as
that. Don't mind him, Eric. Tell me, rather, what we are going to do
about this troublesome Johnson? Violence is out of the question: we need
him to show us where he found that copper. Besides, it isn't safe to kill
old Pete, and it never has been safe to kill old Pete. As for the Kid,
I'll do what I have been urged to do this long time by the personage who
takes so kindly an interest in his fortunes--I'll railroad him off to
jail, at least till we get that mine or until it is, beyond question,
lost to us. It isn't wise to let him go East; he might get hold of
unlimited money. If he did, forewarned as he is now, Johnson would fix it
so we shouldn't have a look-in. You turn this over and let me know your
ideas."

"And that reminds me," said Dewing with smooth insolence, equally
maddening to both hearers, "that Eric's ideas have been notably justified
of late; whereas your ideas--and mine--have been stupid blunder