of his lodgers that I might have the very room I
required to play off our little game in comfortably. When he did that,
I made up my mind to drop the whole thing, and I'm here to do it."

"And let somebody else take the responsibility--with the
percentage--unless you've also felt it your duty to warn Nott too,"
said Sleight with a sneer.

"You only dare say that to me, Sleight," said Renshaw quietly, "because
you have in that drawer an equal evidence of my folly and my
confidence; but if you are wise you will not presume too far on either.
Let us see how we stand. Through the yarn of a drunken captain and a
mutinous sailor you became aware of an unclaimed shipment of treasure,
concealed in an unknown ship that entered this harbor. You are
enabled, through me, to corroborate some facts and identify the ship.
You proposed to me, as a speculation, to identify the treasure if
possible before you purchased the ship. I accepted the offer without
consideration; on consideration I now decline it, but without prejudice
or loss to any one but myself. As to your insinuation I need not remind
you that my presence here to-day refutes it. I would not require your
permission to make a much better bargain with a good natured fool like
Nott than I could with you. Or if I did not care for the business I
could have warned the girl--"

"The girl--what girl?"

Renshaw bit his lip but answered boldly, "The old man's daughter--a
poor girl--whom this act would rob as well as her father."

Sleight looked at his companion attentively. "You might have said so
at first, and let up on this camp-meetin' exhortation. Well
then--admitting you've got the old man and the young girl on the same
string, and that you've played it pretty low down in the short time
you've been there--I suppose, Dick Renshaw, I've got to see your bluff.
Well, how much is it! What's the figure you and she have settled on?"

For an instant Mr. Sleight was in physical danger. But before he had
finished speaking Renshaw's quick sense of the ludicrous had so far
overcome his first indignation as to enable him even to admire the
perfect moral insensibility of his companion. As he rose and walked
towards the door, he half wondered that he had ever treated the affair
seriously. With a smile he replied:

"Far from bluffing, Sleight, I am throwing my cards on the table.
Consider that I've passed out. Let some other man take my hand. Rake
down the pot if you like, o