"Money? Say, do you think they pay you up _there_? I _am_ hungry. Not a mouthful since yesterday noon. Before I touch this grub, Joey, I want to say to you that I don't deserve it of you. I sold you all out. I wasn't square with you. But it was drink and--and that devil behind me all the time. I took your pocket-book that night, David. I stole it. I guess I was crazy most of the time in those days. I don't say I'll ever pay it back. I'm not apologizing for it, either. I'm just telling you. I meant to get all you had, but--well, I wasn't mean enough to crack you over the head. It would have been the only way--" "Don't speak of it, Braddock," interrupted Jenison painfully. "That's all past and gone." "I've paid for some of my sins--but not all of 'em," said Braddock. "Not all of 'em." He fell to eating ravenously. The others sat back, stiff and uncomfortable, watching him. His sunken but powerful jaws crunched the food with some of the ferocity of a beast. It came forcefully to the minds of the two men that they were looking upon a man whose great sinews were of steel, who could have crushed either of them in the long, hard arms that stretched forth to seize the food Ruby had placed before him. They were slowly coming to realize the bent of this man's mind during its savage development in prison. He had slaved to a purpose. The same thought grew in the mind of each observer: what chance would Robert Grand have in the naked hands of his enemy? Joey was the first to broach the subject. "Brad," he said soothingly, "you want to think twice before you do anything desperate." Braddock gave an ugly laugh as he jabbed a fork into a piece of meat. "Joey," he said, "I've already thought ten thousand times." "What do you intend to do?" asked David. "I'm going to get square with Bob Grand," said he very quietly. "I'm not going to be rash about it. I'm going to take my time and be _sure_." "We'll have to do something to prevent--" began David. "You can't do anything. I'm not saying what I'm going to do to him, so don't get fidgety." "You intend to kill him!" "He sent me up, didn't he? Without cause, too. He swore me into the pen. Said I tried to kill him. I never tried it. He owed me money. I asked him for it." He suddenly sprang to his feet. "By Jove, I try not to think that _she_ had anything to do with it. I don't want to believe it of her." "She didn't 'ave anything to do with it," cried Joey. "Get that idea out of your 'ead. You treated 'er like a dog, Brad, but she never turned on you like that. I can swear it." Braddock went over to the window and stared out upon the little garden. A long interval of silence ensued before he turned to face the others.