hold on her through her brother. It was not hard to do. If Jerry Smith was the soul of recklessness, he was the soul of honor, also, in many ways. John Mark had only to lead the boy toward a life of heavy expenditures and gaming, lending him, from time to time, the wherewithal to keep it up. In this way he anchored Jerry as a safeguard to windward, in case of trouble.
But, now that Ronicky Doone had entered the tangle, everything was changed. That clear-eyed fellow might see through to the very bottom of Mark’s tidewater plans. He might step in and cut the Gordian knot by simply paying off Jerry’s debts. Telling the boy to laugh at the danger of exposure, Doone could snatch him away to the West. So Mark came to forestall Ronicky, by sending Jerry out of town and out of reach, for the time being. He would not risk the effect of Ronicky’s tongue. Had not Caroline been persuaded under his very eyes by this strange Westerner?
Very early the next morning John Mark went straight to the apartment of his protege. It was his own man, Northup, who answered the bell and opened the door to him. He had supplied Northup to Jerry Smith, immediately after Caroline accomplished the lifting of the Larrigan emeralds. That clever piece of work had proved the worth of the girl and made it necessary to spare no expense on Jerry. So he had given him the tried and proven Northup.
The moment he looked into the grinning face of Northup he knew that the master was not at home, and both the chief and the servant relaxed. They were friends of too long a term to stand on ceremony.
“There’s no one here?” asked Mark, as a matter of form.
“Not a soul—the kid skipped—not a soul in the house.”
“Suppose he were to come up behind the door and hear you talk about him like this, Northup? He’s trim you down nicely, eh?”
“Him?” asked Northup, with an eloquent jerk of his hand. “He’s a husky young brute, but it ain’t brute force that I work with.” He smiled significantly into the face of the other, and John Mark smiled in return. They understood one another perfectly.
“When is he coming back?”
“Didn’t leave any word, chief.”
“Isn’t this earlier than his usual time for starting the day?”
“It is, by five hours. The lazy pup don’t usually crack an eye till one in the afternoon.”
“What happened this morning.”
“Something rare—something it would have done your heart good to see!”
“Out with it, Northup.”
“I was routed out of bed at eight by a jangling of the telephone. The operator downstairs said a gentleman was calling on Mr. Smith. I said, of course, that Mr. Smith couldn’t be called on at that hour. Then the operator said the gentleman would come up to the door and explain. I told him to come ahead.
“At the door of the apartment I met as fine looking a youngster as I ever laid eyes on, brown as a berry, with a quick, straight look about the eyes that would have done you good to see. No booze or dope in that face, chief. He said —”
“How tall was he?” asked the chief.
“About my height. Know him?”
“Maybe. What name did he give?”
“Didn’t give a name. ‘I’ve come to surprise Jerry,’ he says to me.
“‘Anybody would surprise Jerry at this hour of the morning,’” says I.
“‘It’s too early, I take it?’ says he.
“‘About five hours,’ says I.
“‘Then this is going to be one of the exceptions,’ says he.
“‘If you knew Jerry better you wouldn’t force yourself on him,’ says I.
“‘Son,’ says this fresh kid—”
“Is this the way you talk to Smith?” broke in Mark.
“No, I can polish up my lingo with the best of ‘em. But this brown-faced youngster was a card. Son,’ he says to me, ‘I’ll do my own explaining. Just lead me to his dugout.’
“I couldn’t help laughing. ‘You’ll get a hot reception,’ says I.
“‘I come from a hot country,’ says he, ‘and I got no doubt that Jerry will try to make me at home,’ and he grinned with a devil in each eye.
“‘Come in, then,’ says I, and in he steps. ‘And mind your fists,’ says I, ‘if you wake him up sudden. He fights sometimes because he has to, but mostly because it’s a pleasure to him.’
“‘Sure,’ says he. ‘That’s the way I like to have ‘em come.’”
“And he went in?” demanded John Mark.
“What’s wrong with that?” asked Northup anxiously.
“Nothing. Go ahead.”
“Well, in he went to Jerry’s room. I listened at the door. I heard him call Jerry, and then Jerry groaned like he was half dead.
“‘I don’t know you,’ says Jerry.
“‘You will before I’m through with you,’ says the other.
“‘Who the devil are you?’ asks Jerry.
“‘Doone is my name,’ says he.
“‘Then go to the devil till one o’clock,’ says Jerry. ‘And come back then if you want to. Here’s my time for a beauty sleep.’
“‘If it’s that time,’ says Doone, ‘you’ll have to go ugly today. I’m here to talk.’
“I heard Jerry sit up in bed.
“‘Now what the devil’s the meaning of this?’ he asked.
“‘Are you awake?’ says Doone.
“‘Yes, but be hung to you!’ says Jerry.
“Don’t be hanging me,’ says Doone. ‘You just mark this day down in red —it’s a lucky one for you, son.’
“‘An’ how d’you mean that?’ says Jerry, and I could hear by his voice that he was choking, he was that crazy mad.
“‘Because it’s the day you met me,’ says Doone; ‘that’s why it’s a lucky one for you.’
“‘Listen to me,’ says Jerry, ‘of all the nervy, cold-blooded fakers that ever stepped you’re the nerviest.’
“‘Thanks,’ says Doone. ‘I think I am doing pretty well.’
“‘If I wanted to waste the time,’ says Jerry, ‘I’d get up and throw you out.’
“‘It’s a wise man,’ says Doone, ‘that does
