"Yes, they’re in Ed’s mob." Mason was still for a while, then he observed: "Je’s! He did make a monkey of that cove!" Gibbs laughed. "Oh, he’s a great cod! Why, do you know what he did once? Well, he went to Lord Paisley’s ball in Quebec, impersonating Sir Charles Jordon--that’s why I introduced him as Mr. Jordon to-night." Gibbs’s eyes twinkled. "He went in to look for a rummy, but the flatties got on and tipped him off." "He’s smart." "Yes, the smartest in the business. He’s made several ten-century touches." Gibbs thought seriously a moment and then said: "No, he isn’t smart; he’s a damn fool, like all of them." "Fall?" "Yes, settled twice; done a two-spot at Joliet and a finiff at Ionia." Mason knit his brows and thought a long time, while Gibbs smoked. Finally Mason shook his head. "No," he said, "no, Dan, I don’t get it. I can understand knocking off a peter--the stuff’s right there. All you do is to go take it. I can understand a hold-up, or a heel, or a prowl; I can see how a gun reefs a britch kick and gets a poke--though I couldn’t put my hand in a barrel myself and get it out again--without breaking the barrel. I haven’t any use for that kind, which you know--but these sure-thing games, the big mitt and the bull con--no, Dan, I can’t get hip." Gibbs laughed. "Well, I can’t explain it, Joe. You heard him string that chump to-night." Mason dropped that phase of the question and promptly said: "Dan, I suppose there’s games higher up, ain’t they?" Gibbs laughed a superior laugh. "Higher up? Joe, there’s games that beat his just as much as his beats yours. I could name you men--" Then he paused. Mason had grown very solemn. He was not listening at all to Gibbs, and, after a moment or two, he looked up and said earnestly: "Dan, what you said a while back is dead right. I’m a damn fool. Look at me now--I’ve done twenty years, and in all my time I’ve had less than two thousand bucks." Gibbs was about to speak, but Mason was too serious to let himself be interrupted. "I was thinking it all over to-night, and I decided--know what I decided?" Gibbs shook his head. "I decided," Mason went on, "to square it without waiting for the big touch." Gibbs was not impressed; the good thieves were always considering reformation. "I know I can’t get anything to do--I’m too old, and besides--well, you know." Mason let the situation speak for itself. "I’m about all in, but I was thinking, Dan, this here place you’ve got in the country, can’t you--" Mason hesitated a little--"can’t you let me work around there? Just my board and a few clothes?" Mason leaned forward eagerly. "You know, Joe," said Gibbs, seeing that Mason was serious, "that as long as I’ve got a place you can have a home with me. I’m going to take Kate out there and live. I’ve got the place almost paid for." Mason leaned back, tried to speak, paused, swallowed, and moistened his lips.