I'll play you level," he jerked out, facing Tony.

A roar of dissent came from the audience. Only Palmer Billy's voice
penetrated it as he yelled--

"On yer own terms. We ain't no sharks."

The sentiment struck a responsive note among the onlookers, and the roar
of dissent changed to a cheer of approval, so loud that it brought every
man within earshot to the room to see what was going.

Recovering his composure and his swagger as quickly as he could, Gleeson
offered to back himself--and had his answer from the roomful. Tap,
discriminating and crafty, had exchanged glances with Walker, and
guessed what was in the air.

"I think I'll take those that you don't," he said smoothly; and Gleeson,
glad of the hint that his friends were sticking to him, accepted the
partnership.

"Perhaps some of these gentlemen----" Tap began, looking at the group by
the doorway.

"Our money's on him," Palmer Billy shouted, slapping Tony on the back.

"And mine's on the other man," Walker said quickly; and a moment later a
babel of confusion reigned as each man sought to make the other one put
up the stakes.

Marmot, bursting with importance as the patron-in-chief to Tony,
hammered on the wall in his efforts to make his voice heard in a
proposition. Palmer Billy, looking round the room with a smile on his
face as he thought how well the chorus of his great song would sound
sung by such a mob, caught sight of the local constable, somewhat
overcome by profuse hospitality, sitting in a far corner.

"What sort," he yelled, and his voice went through the babel of sound
like the shriek of a syren through mist. "What sort," he repeated, as
men paused in their clamour, startled by the voice. "Let the trap hold
the dibs."

Any proposal was bound to be greeted with favour at the moment, for the
men were in the highest elation at the prospective defeat of "flashy."
The constable, with official dignity, undertook the responsibility of
stakeholder. Gleeson, Walker, and Tap laid down all the wealth they had,
and from all parts of the room contributions came to cover it, until the
money on Tony was heavily over-subscribed; and men were crying out that
they could get no bet. The excitement brought back some of Gleeson's
swagger.

"If our word's good enough, we'll take every wager," he shouted; and the
audacity pleased the crowd.

The constable, the proprietor of the Rest, and Marmot, mounted guard
over the stakes, placed for convenience in tw