when I was a
youngster, I lived on a ranch in the Western States. Everybody could
shoot down there."

"But, what would you have said had you killed that big black robber or
winged me?" I asked. "We were all in a higgledy-piggledy mix-up when
you fired."

She smiled.

"I can generally hit what I aim at."

I nodded my head. "Ay! And I think you can hit sometimes even when
you don't aim."

"George!" she admonished, "we were referring simply to shooting with a
gun,--not with a bow and arrows."

CHAPTER XXII

Jake Stops the Drink for Good

By the time I got back to Jake, he had his bed hammered up into
position again.

He insisted that I, as his guest, should occupy it, while he would
enjoy nothing so well as being allowed to curl himself up in a blanket
on the floor, in the company of the convalescing Mike.

"Say, George!--before we turn in, I want you to write two letters for
me. I ain't goin' to have no more hold-ups round this joint. Them ten
thousand bucks is goin' to your bank;--what do you call it?"

"The Commercial Bank of Canada," I answered.

"Write a letter to them and ask them to send somebody up to take this
darned chest away. A receipt looks good enough to me after this scrap."

He smoked his pipe reflectively as I wrote out the letter to the Bank
Manager, asking him to send up two men to count over Jake's hoard and
take it back with them, giving him a receipt to cover.

"Know any good lawyers, George? Most of them ginks are grafters from
away back,--so I've heard,--but I guess maybe there's one or two could
do a job on the level."

"Of course there are, Jake. Dow, Cross & Sneddon for instance. They
are Mr. Horsfal's lawyers and solicitors. They are straight, honest
business men, too."

"Guess they'll fill the bill, all right."

"What is on your mind, Jake?" I asked.

"Write them as well, George. Tell them to send up a man who can draw
up a will. I ain't dead yet,--not by a damn' sight,--but some day I'll
be as dead as a smelt, and what's the good o' havin' dough if you ain't
got nobody to leave it to?"

"Good boy!" I cried, and I wrote out letter number two, asking the
lawyers, if possible, to send their representative along with the
Commercial Bank men, so that we could get the whole business fixed up
and off-hand at the one time.

Next morning when I awoke, although it was still early, I found Jake
already dressed. Not only that, but he was at the whisky-keg i