ed correctly.

"I guess we'd better go, don't you think?" he remarked to the other
young men.

"You're safe enough," retorted Polly. "You're safe any place with your
check-book. Besides, we don't want to double names on this list. We'll
spring another one when we're ready to equip and run the place. Oh,
there's Johnny Gamble! Hello, Johnny!" And she leaned far over the rail
to call to him.

It was strange how quickly Johnny Gamble was able to distinguish a
sound coming from that direction, and he looked up immediately. "Come
right up here, Johnny," she commanded him. "I have a great surprise in
store for you."

"Go any place you say if it's not too hot there," he cheerfully assured
her, and started off towards the staircase.

"When I get Johnny Gamble's name this list is closed," said Polly
confidently.

"I'll bet with you on that," offered Bruce Townley. "Johnny probably
hasn't enough money to buy a tin rattle for your babies' hotel."

"No!" she protested, shocked. "I'm so used to seeing him with money
that I don't think I'd know him if he had it shaved off."

"He was too honest, as usual," supplemented Val Russel, lounging
carelessly against the rail. "Here comes Ashley Loring. He can tell you
all about it. Johnny Gamble hasn't a cent left, has he, Loring?"

"It would be most unprofessional to discuss Mr. Gamble's private
affairs," said Loring reprovingly as he came into the box. "Aside from
a mere detail like that, I don't mind saying that Johnny Gamble has
just bet the last hundred dollars he has in the world on an absolutely
criminal long shot."

"I hope he wins!" stated Polly heartily. "I think he's the only real
gentleman I ever knew."

"Well, I like that!" protested Val Russel, laughing.

"I don't mean a slam at you boys," she hastily corrected. "You're a
nice clean bunch; but I know so much about Johnny. He helps people,
then hides so he can't be thanked. He's the one man out of a thousand
that both women and men can absolutely trust."

"That's rather a broad statement," objected Paul Gresham, who had eyed
Polly with fastidious distaste every time she spoke. He was a rather
silent young man with a thin high-arched nose and eyebrows that met,
and was so flawlessly dressed that he sat stiffly.

"I'll make it two in a thousand, Mr. Gresham," said Polly pleasantly.
"I hadn't noticed you; and whatever I am I try to be polite."

The four other young men, who were used to Polly's sweeping
generalit