They were both on the bed when he passed into the room, huddling down under a couple of cotton blankets. The man glanced round him. On the other side of the room was the big bed where their father and mother slept. Both beds were unmade, and the room was littered with feminine garments in a manner that suggested the mother's hasty flight. Hardened as he was, the sight and all it suggested depressed him. But he was not allowed much time for reflection. Two childish voices shrieked at him at once. "Me first!" they cried in one breath. And Sunny ladled them out molasses and crackers to their hearts' content. When they had eaten all he thought good for them Vada scrambled to her knees. "Prayers," she said, and clasped her hands before her face. Jamie wobbled up to her side and imitated her. And Sunny stood by listening wonderingly to something that brought back a world of recollection to him. It brought him more. It laid before him a mental picture of his present manhood which somehow nauseated him. But he stood his ground till the final "Amens," then he hustled the twins almost roughly into the blankets, and, having extracted a promise from them not to leave the bed again until he returned, hurried out of the room. He stood for a moment in the living-room. He was in a doubt that almost confused him. Mechanically he looked at the stove. The fire was quite safe. The window was secure. Then he moved to the door. There was a lock to it and a key. He passed out, and, locking the door behind him, removed the key. "Gee!" he exclaimed, drinking in a breath of the evening air, "five minutes more o' that an' I'd 'a' bin singin' funeral hymns over my past life. Gee!" * * * * * Ten minutes later he was in Wild Bill's hut down at the camp, and had finished his account of his adventures. "Say," he finished up peevishly, "ther's things a feller can do, an' things he sure can't. I tell you right here I ain't learned how to cluck to my chicks, an' I ain't never scratched a worm in my life. I 'low I'm too old to git busy that ways now. If you're goin' to raise them kids fer Zip while he's away, it'll need a committee o' us fellers. It's more'n one feller's job--much more. It needs a wummin." Bill listened patiently until his deputy had aired his final grievance. His fierce eyes had in them a peculiar twinkle that was quite lost on Sunny in his present mood. However, when the injured man had finished his tale of woe the gambler stretched his long legs out, and lolled back in his chair with a fresh chew of tobacco in his mouth. "You ain't done too bad," he said judicially. "That m'lasses racket was a heap smart. Though--say, you'll get around ther' come sun-up to-morrer, an' you'll fix 'em right all day. Maybe Zip'll be back later. Anyways, you'll fix 'em." "Not on your life--" began Sunny, in fierce rebellion. But Bill cut him short. "You'll do it, Sunny," he cried, "an' don't you make no mistake."