ent on ponderously, "you can say so,
but I need all that stock."

He laid out the bills, one after another, and the girl settled back in
her chair. "That's ten," he observed, "these are thousand-dollar
bills--well, there's twelve, then--I'll make it thirteen." He glanced
up expectantly, but she gave no sign and Rimrock dealt impassively on.
"Well, fourteen--lots of money. Say, how much do you want? Fifteen
thousand--you only gave me four hundred. Sixteen, seventeen--well, you
get the whole roll; but say, girl, I can't give you that stock."

He threw down the last bill and faced her appealingly, but she answered
with a hard little laugh.

"You've got to," she said. "I don't want your money. I want one per
cent. of your stock."

"What, of what I've got left? Oh, of the whole capital stock! Well,
that only leaves me fifty per cent."

"That's one way of looking at it. Now look at it another way. Don't
you think I'm entitled to that? Don't you think if I'd said when I
gave you that money: 'All I want is one per cent. of your mine'--don't
you think now, honestly, that you'd have said: 'All right!' and agreed
to it on the spot?"

She looked at him squarely and the fair-fighting Rimrock had to agree,
though reluctantly, that she was right.

"Well, now that you've won when nobody expected you to, now that you've
got money enough to get the whole town drunk, is that any reason why
you should come to a poor typist and ask her to give up her rights?
I'm putting it frankly and unless you can answer me I want you to give
me that stock."

"Well, all right, I'll do it," answered Rimrock impulsively. "I
promised you, and that's enough. But you've got to agree not to sell
that stock--and to vote it with me, every time."

"Very well," she said, "I'll agree not to sell it--at least not to any
one but you. And as far as the voting goes, I think we can arrange
that; I'll vote for whatever seems right."

"No, right or wrong!" challenged Rimrock instantly. "I'm not going to
be beat out of my mine!"

"What do you mean?" she demanded. "I hope you don't think----"

"Never mind what I think," answered Rimrock grimly, "I got bit once,
and that's enough. I lost the old Gunsight just by trusting my
friends, and this time I'm not trusting anybody."

"Oh, you're one of these cynics, these worldly-wise fellows that have
lost all their faith in mankind? I've seen them before, but it wasn't
much trouble to find somebody