e of your business. But, anyway, here I am--"

Fairchild could not restrain a laugh. There was something about the
man, about his nervous, yet boyish way of speaking, about his
enthusiasm, that wiped out suspicion and invited confidence. The owner
of the Blue Poppy mine leaned forward.

"But you did n't finish your sentence about--the writer of that card."

"You mean--oh--well, there 's nothing to that. I 'm in love with her.
Been in love with her since I 've been knee-high to a duck. So 're
you. So 's every other human being that thinks he's a regular man.
So's Maurice Rodaine. Don't know about the rest of you--but I have n't
got a chance. Don't even think of it any more--look on it as a
necessary affliction, like wearing winter woolens and that sort of
thing. Don't let it bother you. The problem right now is to get your
partner out of jail. How much money have you got?"

"Only a little more than two thousand."

"Not enough. There 'll be bonds on four charges. At the least, they
'll be around a thousand dollars apiece. Probabilities are that they
'll run around ten thousand for the bunch. How about the Blue Poppy?"

Fairchild shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know what it's worth."

"Neither do I. Neither does the judge. Neither does any one else.
Therefore, it's worth at least ten thousand dollars. That 'll do the
trick. Get out your deeds and that sort of thing--we 'll have to file
them with the bond as security."

"But that will ruin us!"

"How so? A bond 's nothing more than a mortgage. It doesn't stop you
from working on the mine. All it does is give evidence that your
friend and partner will be on the job when the bailiff yells oyez,
oyez, oyez. Otherwise, they 'll take the mine away from you and sell
it at public sale for the price of the bond. But that's a happen-so of
the future. And there 's no danger if our client--you will notice that
I call him our client--is clothed with the dignity and the protecting
mantle of innocence and stays here to see his trial out."

"He 'll do that, all right."

"Then we 're merely using the large and ample safe of the court of this
judicial district as a deposit vault for some very valuable papers. I
'd suggest now that you get up, seize your deeds and accompany me to
the palace of justice. Otherwise, that partner of yours will have to
eat dinner in a place called in undignified language the hoosegow!"

It was like warm sunshine on a co