suppose. Maybe you found some place where those things could be faked, or where the court-house and its records had been burned. I ain't interested in that. This thing wasn't made up to carry into court. It was made to sell to Walter Markyn. When I found that you were ready to sell to some other buyer—that's me—I thought it probably was a frameup. If you hadn't come here, I wouldn't have known quite what to think. I've seen you both here now, and I've seen part of what you've got. That is enough for me."
"We expected you to do some talking, Beman."
"I'm doing it. You listen!"
Peewee shivered at Beman's voice which, thin and cracked with age, had become suddenly that of the cold-blooded operator who had watched callously his fortunes fail or grow, who had ruined twenty men and had himself been ruined half as many times—of the gambler who had fought not only against men, but had staked his all against drought and flood and taken his toll of dollars out of famine.
