Charity always sort of interests me when I'm on
the receivin' end!"
The crowd chuckled, and the sound infuriated Silent.
"Don't go back jest yet, partners," he drawled. "Mister Morgan, I got
one hundred bones which holler that I can plug that dollar the second
try."
"Boys," grinned Morgan, "I'm leavin' you to witness that I hate to do
it, but business is business. Here you are!"
The coin whirled again. Silent, with his lips pressed into a straight
line and his brows drawn dark over his eyes, waited until the coin
reached the height of its rise, and then fired--missed--fired again,
and sent the coin spinning through the air in a flashing semicircle.
It was a beautiful piece of gun-play. In the midst of the clamour of
applause Silent strode towards Morgan with his hand outstretched.
"After all," he said. "I knowed you wasn't really hard of heart. It
only needed a little time and persuasion to make you dig for coin when
I pass the box."
Morgan, red of face and scowling, handed over his late winnings and
his own stakes.
"It took you two shots to do it," he said, "an' if I wanted to argue
the pint maybe you wouldn't walk off with the coin."
"Partner," said Jim Silent gently, "I got a wanderin' hunch that
you're showin' a pile of brains by not arguin' this here pint!"
There followed that little hush of expectancy which precedes trouble,
but Morgan, after a glance at the set lips of his opponent, swallowed
his wrath.
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