a moment, his reading and addressed Craig. "Miss
Kennard, of course, is sizing up according to what you have said of
Latisan. You're sure about his weakness for dames, are you? We don't
want to give Miss Elsham any wrong tips."

Craig hung tenaciously to his estimate of Latisan, in no mood to uproot
the opinion which gossip had implanted and hatred had watered. And at
the end of his arraignment he attempted an awkward compliment. "And
even if he could have stood out against the Queen of Sheba up till now,
I'll say he'll----" Craig gazed with humid indorsement of Miss Elsham's
attractions and waved his hand in the way of a mute completion of the
sentence.

Miss Elsham smiled broadly and patted together her manicured thumbnails.
"Loud applause!" she cried. "Pardon me if I don't blush, sir. I have
used up my stock. The last case was oozing with flattery--after the
flask had got in its work."

Mern went on with his reading, portraying the character of Latisan as
Miss Kennard had gathered and assimilated data. She had even gone to the
extent of giving Latisan a black mustache and evil eyes.

"Hold on," objected Craig. "Nothing was said about his looks. She's
picking that up because I was strong on how he had acted. He doesn't
look as savage as he is; he fools a lot of folks that way," stated
Craig, in surly tones.

"Well, how will I know when I meet up with him in the woods?"

"You go to the Adonia tavern and make your headquarters, and you won't
miss him. How does the thing look to you as a proposition?" demanded
Craig, solicitously. "You ought to know pretty well what you can do with
men, by this time."

Miss Elsham tossed away her cigarette butt and referred mutely to Mern
by a wave of her hand.

"She always gets 'em--gets the better of the best of 'em. Rest easy,"
said the chief.

"And it must be worked easy," warned Craig, catching at the word.
"That's why you're in it, Miss Elsham, instead of its being a man's
fight up there. We can't afford to let Latisan slam that drive down
through our logs, as he threatens to do. If he does it--if we turn on
Flagg and sue for damages, as we can do, of course--court action will
only bring out a lot of stuff that better be kept covered. I want the
agency to understand fully, Mern!"

"We're on."

"I'm achieving results without showing all the details to the home
office. And I'm not a pirate. You spoke of kicking a cripple, Mern.
We'll take over Flagg's logs as soon as h