"If you think that I'm going to give up my quarters for a troup of curious sight-seers, you're mistaken. If that's what you turned toward me for, don't allow yourself to dwell upon it another minute. I'm a laboring man and I have to have decent rest at nights. . . . Do you suppose Cecile would really mind a tent?" And then Joe's face went red. "Now ain't you the pair of rough jokers?" he whined. "Ain't you, though? But what's it going to be--this room or Garry's? The way I look at it we're elected to camp out ourselves. We're hardened sons of the wilderness, you know. That's what they always call us in print. But how am I going to get this place cleaned up?" For another hour Joe argued it, and at last settled upon the store-house building as the likeliest for sleeping quarters for the feminine portion of the visitors. "We have to eat in here, anyhow," he argued, "so I guess it's the best arrangement we can hit on. Honey won't be here much to meals, either. That'll be one nice thing about it. He'll be going north directly. And now--now I guess I'll go out and have a look at the pantry, even if it does make me feel sort of faint every time I think of the grub we've got on hand. Canned beans and boiled potatoes, and ham and bacon, to round out a banquet. Why couldn't a couple of mighty hunters like you bring home more than one little haunch of venison? Bacon and beans! Steve, you sure have been living mighty low-down on this job!" He went out with a great show of haste, but returned almost immediately, forgot the urgency of matters in general in finding Garry idly shuffling a deck of cards. Throughout the evening Joe had exhibited an unwillingness to meet the third man's glances directly, but it was impossible for him to remain oblivious to the clicking of the chips. He balanced first on one foot and then on the other for a moment; then diffidently drew up a chair. "Just a friendly hand or two, I suppose," he suggested, when the other made no move to begin. "Low limit and wide open, eh?" Garry still toyed with the cards. "I don't suppose you've ever forgotten the first game in which we indulged, have you, Joe?" he asked at length. Joe was not comfortable. "Scarcely," he admitted. "Scarcely." "Nor the--stakes?" pursued Garry. "I--I seem to recall 'em, faintly." Garry's peal of amusement was as rollicking as a boy's. "So do I," he exclaimed. "And if I remember rightly you stated on that occasion that cash was no consideration with you. Does that still hold good?" It was the first good look Joe had had at the other's face. The change he found in it seemed to perplex him more than a little. "I take it that it does." Garry did not wait for his reply. "And now--what do you say to that same full bottle against a--a ninety-nine year blanket restriction, with me at the wrong end of the odds?" Joe slitted his eyes.