line. Terabon don't talk none
about that woman--nor about Carline," Dock grumbled.

"I bet Terabon would be sorry none if Carline hyar dropped out. Y' know
she's Old Crele's gal," Jet said. "Crele's a good feller. Sent word
down to have us take cyar of her, an' Prebol, the fool, didn't know 'er,
hadn't heard. Look what she give him, bang in the shoulder! That old
Prophet'll take cyar of him, course. See how hit works out. She shined
up to Terabon, all right."

"I 'low I better talk to him," Despard suggested. "Terabon's a good
sport. He said, you' know, that graftin' and whiskey boatin', an'
robbin' the bank wa'n't none of his business. He said, course, he could
write it down in his notes, but without names, 'count of somebody might
read somethin' in them an' get some good friend of his in Dutch. He said
it wouldn't be right for him to know about somebody robbin' a
commissary, or a bank, or killin' somebody, because if somebody like a
sheriff or detective got onto it, they might blame him, or somethin'."

"I like that Terabon!" Jet declared. "Y'see how he is. He says he's
satisfied, makin' a fair living, gettin' notes so's he can write them
magazine stories, an' if he was to try to rob the banks, he'd have to
learn how, same's writin' for newspapers. An' probably he wouldn't have
the nerve to do it really, 'count of his maw and paw bein' the kind they
was. He told me hisself that they made him go to Sunday school when he
was a kid, an' things like that spoil a man for graftin'. Stands to
reason, all right, the way he talks. I like him; he knows enough to mind
his own business."

"He's comin' up to-night to go after geese on the bar. We'll talk to
him. He'll look that business over, level-headed. That motorboat any
good?"

"Nothin' extra. He's got ready money, though, I forgot that," Despard
grinned, walking over to the hapless victim of his black-jack skill.

The three divided nearly thirteen hundred dollars among them. The money
made them good humoured and they had some compassion for their prisoner.
One of them noticed that a skiff was coming up from Fort Pillow Landing,
and fifteen minutes later Terabon was talking to Despard on the snag to
one prong of which was fastened the line of Carline's motorboat.

"I was wondering where I'd see you again," Terabon said. "Didn't have a
chance at New Madrid, saw you was in business, so I didn't follow up
none."

"I was wondering if you had a line on that," Despard said