saw Donaldson on the side porch, and beyond him were Lucas and Clark,
playing roulette. It made me wild. I couldn't have played roulette that
night for pennies.

"I went around the house and in the front door. What I meant to do was
to walk into that room and tell Clark who I was. He knew me, and all I
meant to do was to call Bev down, and mother, and make him sit up and
take notice. I hadn't a gun on me.

"I swear I wasn't thinking of killing him then. I hated him like poison,
but that was all. But I went into the living-room, and I heard Clark
say he'd lost a thousand dollars. Maybe you don't get that. A thousand
dollars thrown around like that, and me living on what Bev could borrow
from him.

"That sent me wild. Lucas took a gun from him, just after that, and said
he was going to put it in the other room. He did it, too. He put it on a
table and started back. I got it and pointed it at Clark. I'd have shot
him, too, but Bev came into the room.

"I want to exonerate Bev. She has been better than most sisters to me,
and she has lied to try to save me. She came up behind me and grabbed my
arm. Lucas had heard her, and he turned. I must have closed my hand on
the trigger, for it went off and hit him.

"I was in the living-room when Donaldson ran in. I hid there until they
were all gathered around Lucas and had quit running in, and then I
got away. I saw my mother in the grounds later. I told her where the
revolver was and that they'd better put it in the billiard room. I was
afraid they'd suspect Bev.

"I have read the above statement and it is correct. I was legally
adopted by Mrs. Alice Ford Hines, of Omaha, and use that signature. I
generally use the name of Frederick Gregory, which I took when I was on
the stage for a short time.

"(Signed) Clifton HINES."

Bassett folded up the papers and put them in the envelope. "I got
that," he said, "at the point of a gun, my friend. And our friend Hines
departed for the Mexican border on the evening train. I don't mind
saying that I saw him off. He held out for a get-away, and I guess it's
just as well."

He glanced at Dick, lying still and rigid on the bed.

"And now," he said. "I think a little drink won't do us any harm."

Dick refused to drink. He was endeavoring to comprehend the situation;
to realize that Gregory, who had faced him with such sneering hate a day
or so before, was his half-brother.

"Poor devil!" he said at last. "I wish to God I'd known.