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 we've got to be careful—awfully, awfully careful, don't you see? I've got to catch him, not scare him away. Suppose he goes off forever; suppose he's drowned, body lost; suppose he's burnt; suppose a dozen wrong things, Steve, and I can never show him. Then I've got to be Keeban forever; nobody but you will ever believe! Will they?"

"Nobody," I agreed.

"Come, then; to-morrow's our chance. No word to the 'bulls' or he'll hear it and not show up. We have to handle this ourselves and close. Who was with him? Christina?"

"That's what he called her."

"She talked for him?"

"Come to think of it, Jerry, she did, mostly."

"That's why he had her; my voice gives him most trouble. Sometimes he gets it perfectly; then he goes off into things I'd never say. He knows it but doesn't know what to say. He's so near perfect for me that he fooled you, you see; no wonder he fooled Dot."

"No."

"What did he ask of you?"

"Money."

"How much?"