ws rigged up a josh like that, and let it
go as far as this, may the Lord have mercy on your souls, for I won't!"

But Rock could only wave him off weakly; so Ford waited until he had
recovered. Even then, it took some talking to convince Rock that the
affair was truly serious and not to be treated any longer as a joke.

"Why, damn it, man, I'm in love with a girl and I want to marry her if I
can get rid of this other darned, mysterious, Tom-fool of a woman," Ford
gritted at last, in sheer desperation. "Or if it's just a josh, by this
and by that I mean to find it out."

Rock sobered then. "It ain't any josh," he said, with convincing
earnestness. "You got married, all right enough. And if it's as you say,
Ford, I sure am sorry for it. I don't know the girl's name. I'd know
her quick enough if I should see her, but I can't tell you who she was."

Ford swore, of course. And Rock listened sympathetically until he was
done.

"That's the stuff; get it out of your system, Ford, and then you'll feel
better. Then we can put our heads together and see if there isn't some
way to beat this combination."

"Could you spot the preacher, do you reckon?" asked Ford more calmly.

"I could--if he didn't see us coming," Rock admitted guardedly. "Name of
Sanderson, I believe. I've seen him around Garbin. He could tell--he
must have some record of it; but would he?"

"Don't you know, even, why she came and glommed onto me like that?"
Ford's face was as anxious as his tone.

"Only what you told me, confidentially, in a corner afterwards," said
Rock regretfully. "Maybe you told it straight, and maybe you didn't;
there's no banking on a man's imagination when he's soused. But the way
you told it to me was this:

"You said the girl told you that she was working for some queer old
party--an old lady with lots of dough; and she made her will and give
her money all to some institution--hospital or some darned thing, I
forget just what, or else you didn't say. Only, if this girl would marry
her son within a certain time, he could have the wad. Seems the son was
something of a high-roller, and the old lady knew he'd blow it in, if it
was turned over to him without any ballast, like; and the girl was
supposed to be the ballast, to hold him steady. So the old lady, or else
it was the girl, writes to this fellow, and he agrees to hook up with
the lady and take the money and behave himself. Near as I could make it
out, the time was just abou