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176 "He didn't." Tony scowled. "Just says dat when dis boid wakes up ter rope an' gag him like his pal down below. Maybe Sims would double-cross us, at dat! Tell yer what, Pete, yer keep yer eye on dis sleepin' beauty o' mine ter-morrer, an' I'll run up ter de big burg an' get a slant on de game. I'll bring some snow back wid me from Volkert's, too."

"No, you don't!" Pete laughed cynically. "I'm taking no chances on you either, my friend. We're in this together and we'll stick."

For the better part of an hour they argued the question, while the contents of the bottle slowly diminished, and their tones, at times raised to the point of fury, grew thick and drowsy. At length Tony's head dropped forward on his breast, and his body slumped sidewise in his chair; but Pete still sat with brooding eyes fixed upon the bottle.

Would he never sleep? Odell's nerves were tense and quivering with the eagerness so long restrained, and the minutes dragged interminably. Once he thought he heard a dull, thumping sound from below; but although he listened with strained intensity it was not repeated.

He glanced again at Pete. It had been a good twenty minutes since the fellow had moved a muscle: could he be in a stupor? His jaw had dropped, and the lids were half closed over the vacant, dull eyes; it seemed, too, in the wavering flare of the smoky lamp that bluish shadows had crept up about his mouth.

Odell had seen that look in the faces of men before; and the thought which came to him all but stunned his faculties for a moment. Then pulling himself together he stirred ex-