"And Hunter only five." "Five dollars?" said McCarthy, with a foreboding. "But what I can't understand is this--" "What?" "Dopey McNab got a box at two-fifty." A sudden silence fell on the room, while, reflectively, each puffed forth quick, questioning volumes of smoke. "How do they smoke?" said Hungerford again. "Wonderful!" said McCarthy, hoping against hope. "They're not!" said Dink firmly. He rose, went to the window, and cast forth the malodorous thing. Hungerford followed suit. McCarthy, proud as the Old Guard, sat smoking on; only one leg was drawn up under the other in a tense, convulsive way. "They were wonderful last night," he said obstinately. "They certainly were." "And they were wonderful this morning." "Not quite so wonderful." "I like 'em still." "And Dopey McNab bought a hundred at two-fifty." This was too much for McCarthy. He surrendered. Dopey McNab, at this favorable conjunction, sidled into the room with his box under his arm and the face of a boy soprano on duty. "I say, fellows, I've got a little proposition to make." A sort of dull, rolling murmur went around the room which he did not notice. "I find I've been cracking my bank account--the fact is, I'm strapped as a mule and have got to raise enough to pay my wash bill." "Wash bill, Dopey?" said McCarthy softly. "We must wash," said Dopey firmly. "To resume. As I detest, abhor, and likewise shrink from borrowing from friends--" "Repeat that," said Joe Hungerford. "I will not. But for all of which reasons, I have a little bargain to propose. Here is a box of the finest cigars ever struck the place." "A full box?" "Only three cigars out." "Three!" said Hungerford with a significant look at Stover. "I could sell them on the campus for twenty, easy." "But you love your friends," said Stover, moving a little, so as to shut off the retreat. "Who will give me seven-fifty for it?" said McNab, with the air of one filling a beggar with ecstasy. "Seven-fifty. You'll let it go at seven-fifty, Dopey?" said McCarthy faintly, paralyzed at such duplicity. "I will." "Dopey," said Dink, with a signal to the others, "what is the exact figure of that wash bill of yours?" "Two dollars and sixty-two cents." "Will you take two dollars and sixty-two cents for it?" "You're fooling." "I am very, very serious." McNab struck a pose, while over his face was seen the conflict of duty and avarice. "Take it," he said at last, in a glow of virtue. "I didn't say I wanted it." "You didn't!" "I only wanted to know what you'd really take." "What's this mean?" said McNab indignantly. "Dopey, would you sacrifice it at just a little less?" said Hungerford. But here McNab, suddenly smelling danger in the air, made a spring backwards. Hungerford, who was on guard, caught him. "Put him in the chair and tie him," said Stover, savagely. Which was done. "I say, look here, what are you going to do with me?" said McNab, fiercely.