"And use the common funds for that purpose? I get you." Murray puffed a moment. "Well, Willyum, say your mind!" "I say, Yes!" spoke up Bill Hobbs eagerly. "Mac's playin' on the level with us, ain't he? Well, then, meet him square. If all of us is goin' to be pals we----" Murray made a gesture of assent, and reached under his armpit. "Willyum was a hobo when we met," he said, "and hobos go heeled, Mac. I didn't leave St. Louis bone dry myself. Here's our contribution. We'll each drive a flivver from here, and if I were you, I'd convert this wad into travelers checks before we leave in the morning. They'll be good anywhere." He opened a flat purse and drew out a roll of bills. Mackintavers gasped as they fell on the table. His features slowly purpled. "Good gosh!" he ejaculated. "Why----" "Nine hundred," said Murray. "Evens up pretty well with your thousand. You keep the bank, Sandy. Say, there's a place north of here called Two Palms, with an interesting yarn attached regarding a chink and a girl; smacks of mystery. Also, it's a mining country and little known. Let's go there to-morrow!" "All right," said Sandy brokenly. "You--you boys now, how d'ye know I won't beat it with your pile? What right ye got to treat me----" "We're friends and partners, aren't we?" cut in Hobbs. "Forget it, Sandy--forget it! Us guys is goin' to hang together, that's all. We're usin' your flivver, ain't we? Well, that's all right. If you see a chance to buy a mine, buy it; we'll be partners. If doc sees a chance to cut a guy open an' make some money, we're partners. If I see a chance to--to--to----" "To crack a safe?" suggested Murray whimsically. Hobbs gave him a glance of earnest reproach. "Aw! Come off o' that, Doc; well, whatever I see a chance to do, we'll do. Right?" Mackintavers nodded, and raked the money together. A fact which the desert rat had foreseen, but which hardly appeared to Murray as any momentous factor in the affairs of destiny, was that on the following morning the stage went to Two Palms with the mail. A few hours after the stage pulled out, the two flivvers were filled with the necessary elements and crated tins of spare gasoline; Sandy Mackintavers piloted one in the lead, and Murray and Bill Hobbs followed in the second. The road to Two Palms was good, comparatively speaking; that is, it was a road. Before noon, Sandy paused to lower the top of his car. Bodily discomfort meant nothing to him; and he was more used to sun than to wearing a hole through stout imitation-leather with the top of his head, to say nothing of the risk of breaking his neck. "You bob around like a cork in a washtub, Mac," observed Murray. "When you hit that dry wash a mile back----" "Don't mention it!" grunted Sandy. "I forgot which way the gas throttle worked--it's different in an automobile. Why didn't we bring some lunch?"