The smile of Joe Rix was the smile of a diplomat. It could be maintained upon his face as unwaveringly as if it were wrought out of marble while Joe heard insult and lie. As a matter of fact Joe had smiled in the face of death more than once, and this is a school through which even diplomats rarely pass. Yet it was with an effort that he maintained the characteristic good-natured expression when the door to Donnegan's shack opened and he saw big George and, beyond him, Donnegan himself. "Booze," said Joe Rix to himself instantly. For Donnegan was a wreck. The unshaven beard--it was the middle of morning--was a reddish mist over his face. His eyes were sunken in shadow. His hair was uncombed. He sat with his shoulders hunched up like one who suffers from cold. Altogether his appearance was that of one whose energy has been utterly sapped. "The top of the morning, Mr. Donnegan," said Joe Rix, and put his foot on the threshold. But since big George did not move it was impossible to enter. "Who's there?" asked Donnegan. It was a strange question to ask, for by raising his eyes he could have seen. But Donnegan was staring down at the floor. Even his voice was a weak murmur. "What a party! What a party he's had!" thought Joe Rix, and after all, there was cause for a celebration. Had not the little man in almost one stroke won the heart of the prettiest girl in The Corner, and also did he not probably have a working share in the richest of the diggings? "I'm Joe Rix," he said. "Joe Rix?" murmured Donnegan softly. "Then you're one of Lord Nick's men?" "I was," said Joe Rix, "sort of attached to him, maybe." Perhaps this pointed remark won the interest of Donnegan. He raised his eyes, and Joe Rix beheld the most unhappy face he had ever seen. "A bad hangover," he decided, "and that makes it bad for me!" "Come in," said Donnegan in the same monotonous, lifeless voice. Big George reluctantly, it seemed, withdrew to one side, and Rix was instantly in the room and drawing out a chair so that he could face Donnegan. "I was," he proceeded "sort of tied up with Lord Nick. But"--and here he winked broadly--"it ain't much of a secret that Nick ain't altogether a lord any more. Nope. Seems he turned out sort of common, they say." "What fool," murmured Donnegan, "has told you that? What ass had told you that Lord Nick is a common sort?" It shocked Joe Rix, but being a diplomat he avoided friction by changing his tactics. "Between you and me," he said calmly enough, "I took what I heard with a grain of salt. There's something about Nick that ain't common, no matter what they say. Besides, they's some men that nobody but a fool would stand up to. It ain't hardly a shame for a man to back down from 'em." He pointed this remark with a nod to Donnegan. "I'll give you a bit of free information," said the little man, with his weary eyes lighted a little. "There's no man on the face of the earth who could make Lord Nick back down."