ir way.

"Think it over," advised the short man, composedly. "But please take
note that there are now four of us in on the split, and that quartering
it makes easy figuring."

Mr. Wagg was not composed. This threat to disrupt his fifty-fifty plan
brought him out of something that was like stupor. "You belong back in
state prison, and I'll see to it that you're put there."

The man who called himself Bill was not ruffled. He waved his arm to
indicate the spread of the landscape. "Doesn't being up here above the
world lift you out of the rut of petty revenge? Can't you see things in
a broader way? I can. I feel like praising you for that job you put up
to get our valuable friend out where he can help all four of us. For
many a day, after I saw that you had this friend out in the yard and
were interested in him, I tended less to making harness pads and more to
watching you through the shop window. I was interested in the gent, too.
Tom and I had made up our minds to be as patient as possible for seven
years--and then be rusticating up in these hills, right on hand to help
him in the chore of digging it out of whatever hole it's hidden in.
Couldn't let you monopolize him--absolutely not, Mr. Guard! Do you think
I was hiding out that noon only by luck and chance? No, no! I saw
you monkeying with the chimney door that forenoon. I saw how you were
hopping around and I got a good look at your face. Says I to myself, Tom
not being handy, 'There's something to be pulled off, and I'll make sure
how it is pulled.' That's how I happened to be on the business side of
that shield, Mr. Guard. It was good work. It leaves our friend pretty
comfortable, so far as the dicks are concerned. Tom and I have got to
keep dodging 'em. We didn't have your advantages, you know--Tom and I
didn't! We simply did the best we could in getting out--realizing the
value of time."

The short man was employing a patronizing tone, as if accomplishing an
escape from state prison was merely a matter of election of methods. All
of the guard's official pride was in arms. He advanced on the convict
and shook a finger under his nose. "How did you get out? You don't dare
to tell me. It was an accident. You didn't use any brains. You don't
dare to tell, I say!"

"Oh yes, I do!" The convict was placid. "I'll tell you because you'll
never dare to open your mouth on the matter. Furthermore, you've got to
understand the position Tom and I are in right now in regard