"Your money does not frighten me," said Uncle Billy, who was slightly nettled by this time. "It is against my principles to play for a cash bet----" "But you and your pussy-footed old side-partner got into me for eighty dollars just the same!" scoffed Cottle. "You and your principles be damned!" Uncle Billy swallowed this without blinking, but he did not look at Cottle. He was looking at the roll of bills on the table. "If you are really in earnest----" began Poindexter, and glanced at Old Man Sprott. "Go ahead, Billy," croaked that aged reprobate. "Teach him a lesson. He needs it." "Never mind the lesson," snapped Cottle. "I got out of school a long time ago. The bet is that I can leave my left arm in the clubhouse safe--stick it in my pocket--and trim you birds with one hand." "We wouldn't insist on that," said Old Man Sprott. "Play with both hands if you want to." "Think I'm a welsher?" demanded Cottle. "The original proposition goes. 'Course I wouldn't really cut the arm off and leave it in the safe, but what I mean is, if I use two arms in making a shot, right there is where I lose. Satisfactory?" "Perkins," said Uncle Billy, solemnly wagging his head, "you are a witness that this thing has been forced on me. I have been bullied and browbeaten and insulted into making this bet----" "And so have I," chimed in Old Man Sprott. "I'm almost ashamed----" The Ooley-cow shrugged his shoulders. "I am a witness," said he quietly. "Calvin, these gentlemen have stated the case correctly. You have forced them to accept your proposition----" "And he can't blame anybody if he loses," finished Uncle Billy as he reached for the roll of bills. "You bet!" ejaculated Old Man Sprott. "He was looking for trouble, and now he's found it. Count it, Billy, and we'll each take half." "That goes, does it?" asked Cottle. "Sir?" cried Uncle Billy. "Oh, I just wanted to put you on record," said Cottle, with a grin. "Wesley, you're my witness too. I mislaid a five-hundred-dollar note the other day, and it may have got into my change pocket. Might as well see if a big bet will put these safety-first players off their game! Anyhow, I'm betting whatever's there. I ain't sure how much it is." "I am," said Uncle Billy in a changed voice. He had come to the five-hundred-dollar bill, sandwiched in between two twenties. He looked at Old Man Sprott, and for the first time I saw doubt in his eyes. "Oh, it's there, is it!" asked Cottle carelessly. "Well, let it all ride. I never backed up on a gambling proposition in my life--never pinched a bet after the ball started to roll. Shoot the entire works--'s all right with me!" Uncle Billy and Old Man Sprott exchanged significant glances, but after a short argument and some more abuse from Cottle they toddled over to the desk and filled out two blank checks--for five hundred and eighty dollars apiece.