"I ain't," sneered the mayor. "But no exquisite from your set with his little air-gun ever scared me. You try to get away from here with that bundle and you'll find yourself all tangled up in the worst scrap that ever happened." "Where's the money, Joe?" asked Hayden. "You won't wait--" Bland begged. "Wait to get my own money--I guess not. Show me where it is." "Remember," put in Cargan, "that money's mine. And don't have any pipe dreams about the law--the law ain't called into things of this sort as a rule. I guess you'd be the last to call it. You'll never get away from here with my money." Mr. Magee opened the card-room door farther, and saw the figure of the stranger Hayden confronting the mayor. Mr. Cargan's title of exquisite best described him. The newcomer was tall, fair, fastidious in dress and manner. A revolver gleamed in his hand. "Joe," he said firmly, "take me to that money at once." "It's out here," replied Bland. He and Hayden disappeared through the dining-room door into the darkness. Cargan and Max followed close behind. Hot with excitement, Mr. Magee slipped from his place of concealment. A battle fit for the gods was in the air. He must be in the midst of it--perhaps again in a three-cornered fight it would be the third party that would emerge victorious. In the darkness of the dining-room he bumped into a limp clinging figure. It proved to be the Hermit of Baldpate Mountain. "I got to talk to you, Mr. Magee," he whispered in a frightened tremolo. "I got to have a word with you this minute." "Not now," cried Magee, pushing him aside. "Later." The hermit wildly seized his arm. "No, now," he said. "There's strange goings-on, here, Mr. Magee. I got something to tell you--about a package of money I found in the kitchen." Mr. Magee stood very still. Beside him in the darkness he heard the hermit's excited breathing. CHAPTER XIV THE SIGN OF THE OPEN WINDOW Undecided, Mr. Magee looked toward the kitchen door, from behind which came the sound of men's voices. Then he smiled, turned and led Mr. Peters back into the office. The Hermit of Baldpate fairly trembled with news. "Since I broke in on you yesterday morning," he said in a low tone as he took a seat on the edge of a chair, "one thing has followed another so fast that I'm a little dazed. I can't just get the full meaning of it all." "You have nothing on me there, Peters," Magee answered. "I can't either." "Well," went on the hermit, "as I say, through all this downpour of people, including women, I've hung on to one idea. I'm working for you. You give me my wages. You're the boss. That's why I feel I ought to give what information I got to you." "Yes, yes," Mr. Magee agreed impatiently. "Go ahead." "Where you find women," Peters continued, "there you find things beyond understanding. History--" "Get to the point."