Page:Melville Davisson Post--The Man of Last Resort.djvu/95

Rh we could never get on our feet no more. We are skeery, Billy; me and Martin are skeery, but we are ready to do anything for you that we can. We are ready to help you any way you want to be helped, because you are dead game, Billy,—that's what you are—you 're dead game.”

The wary Hiram Martin was totally in the dark as to what Crawley was probing for, but he had unlimited confidence in the proprietor of the Emporium, and he assented blandly. Crawley, he knew, followed no cold trail; Crawley worked no salted lead, and if he stooped to “crook the pregnant hinges of the knee,” there was something in it for Crawley, and at no great distance.

“Well,” responded the Secretary of State, “I am obliged to you both, but I guess there is nothing I need just now. Of course, I have got to raise a bunch of money for this deal, but I sort of arranged that in New York.”

The ulterior motive of Crawley was now quite clear to the owner of the Golden Horn. Hergan would require money,—perhaps a large sum for his venture. If good security could