a career of his own. In days gone by, at roulette or
faro, or in frontier poker games, he had learned to play with big
chances against him and, compared to them, Wall Street was safe. The
money that he staked was less than six months' earnings of his share of
the Tecolote Mine; and from the brief notes of L. W., who was acting as
his agent, there was more of it piling up. So he played it carelessly,
like the plunger he was, and fortune--and Mrs. Hardesty--smiled.

He won, on the Street; and, though the stakes were not specified, he
seemed to be winning with her. It was a question with him whether a
woman of her kind ever thought of such a thing as marriage. She had
money of her own, and all that money could buy; and her freedom,
whatever that was. In this new world about him all the terms of life
seemed changed and transposed and vague, and he never quite knew what
she meant. Every word that she said when they discussed life and love
seemed capable of a double intent, and whether by freedom she meant to
yield or to escape something he had never made out. All he knew was
that at times she seemed to beckon him on and at others to fend him
away. She was fickle as fortune which, as he plunged and covered,
sometimes smiled and again wore a frown.

But it was sparkling and stimulating as the champagne he now drank,
this new life with its win and lose, and he played his stakes with the
stoical repose of a savage, the delighted abandon of a boy. His broker
was always Buckbee, that gay, laughing Beau Brummel who had given him
his first start in the world. It was Buckbee who had met him when he
first came to the Waldorf with his assays and his samples of ore and,
after much telephoning and importuning and haggling, had arranged for
his interview with Stoddard. That interview had resulted in Rimrock's
first clash with Stoddard, and he had hated him ever since; for a man
who would demand a controlling interest in a mine for simply lending
his name was certainly one who was fully capable of grabbing the rest
if he could. So Rimrock had fought him; but for Buckbee, the broker,
he had nothing but the best of good will.

To be sure Buckbee worked for Stoddard--that was plainly made evident
at the time they had made the first deal--but he was open-hearted and
honest and generous with his tips, and Rimrock found they were good.
Buckbee even went further, he arranged credit for Rimrock at one of the
biggest banks and when i