"Well, you ain't very complimentary. You'd ought to have invited me to your party the other night, Jim. I'd like to have seen you doing stunts as a king. That was the worst,"--he wagged his head and chuckled. "A king, a real king, and your picture put into the papers along of the millionaire's daughter,--well, you may damn me!" "What I'll do," Wheaton went on undisturbed, "is to buy you a ticket to Spokane to-morrow. I'll meet you here and give you your transportation and a hundred dollars in cash. Now that's all I'll do for you, and it's a lot more than you deserve." "Oh, no it ain't," said Snyder. "And it's the last I'll ever do." "Don't be too sure of that. I want five hundred and a regular allowance, say twenty-five dollars a month." "I don't intend to fool with you," said Wheaton sharply. He rose and picked up his hat. "What I offer you is out of pure kindness; we may as well understand each other. You and I are walking along different lines. I'd be glad to see you succeed in some honorable business; you're not too old to begin. I can't have you around here. It's out of the question--my giving you a pension. I can't do anything of the kind." His tone gradually softened; he took on an air of patient magnanimity. Snyder broke in with a sneer. "Look here, Jim, don't try the goody-goody business on me. You think you're mighty smooth and you're mighty good and you're gettin' on pretty fast. Your picture in the papers is mighty handsome, and you looked real swell in them fine clothes up at the banker's talkin' to that girl." "That's another thing," said Wheaton, still standing. "I ought to refuse to do anything for you after that. Getting drunk and attacking me couldn't possibly do you or me any good. It was sheer luck that you weren't turned over to the police." Snyder chuckled. "That old preacher gave me a pretty hard jar." "You ought to be jarred. You're no good. You haven't even been successful in your own particular line of business." "There ain't nothing against me anywhere," said Snyder, doggedly. "I have different information," said Wheaton, blandly. "There was the matter of that post-office robbery in Michigan; attempted bank robbery in Wisconsin, and a few little things of that sort scattered through the country, that make a pretty ugly list. But they say you're not very strong in the profession." He smiled an unpleasant smile. Snyder drew his feet from the table and jumped up with an oath. "Look here, Jim, if you ain't playin' square with me--" "I intend playing more than square with you, but I want you to know that I'm not afraid of you; I've taken the trouble to look you up. The Pinkertons have long memories," he said, significantly. Snyder was visibly impressed, and Wheaton made haste to follow up his advantage. "You've got to get away from here, Billy, and be in a hurry about it. How much money have you?" "Not a red cent." "What became of that money Mr. Saxton gave you?"