"Didn't I tell yez he was
selling us out?"
Somehow Leroy's revolver seemed to jump to his hand without a
motion on his part. It lay loosely in his limp fingers, unaimed
and undirected.
"SAY THAT AGAIN, PLEASE."
Beneath the velvet of Leroy's voice ran a note more deadly than
any threat could have been. It rang a bell for a silence in which
the clock of death seemed to tick. But as the seconds fled
Reilly's courage oozed away. He dared not accept the invitation
to reach for his weapon and try conclusions with this debonair
young daredevil. He mumbled a retraction, and flung, with a
curse, out of the room.
Leroy slipped the revolver back in his holster and quoted, with a
laugh:
"To every coward safety,
And afterward his evil hour."
"What's that?" demanded Neil. "I ain't no coward, even if Jay is.
I don't knuckle under to any man. You got a right to ante up with
some information. I want to know why you ain't got them papers
you promised to bring back with you."
"And I, too, senor. I desire to know what it means," added
Chaves, his eyes glittering.
"That's the way to chirp, gentlemen. I haven't got them because
Forbes blundered on us, and I had to take a pasear awful sudden.
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