'There ain't any more.'
"'Have a care, Colonel Potts,' I exclaimed, 'or first thing you know you
will rue those there words bitterly! I will not brook your dastardly
insults,' I says, 'and besides,' I added with a sudden idee, 'it looks
like two wives will warm things up plenty for _you_.'
"At them words his craven face turned an ashen gray, and he fastened
upon me a glare of baffled rage that might well have made a stouter
heart quail before it, but I returned his glare fearlessly and backed
swif'ly to the door, feelin' for the knob. When I found it, I got
quickly out, without a blow bein' struck or a shot fired. Then I run
here."
Early in the narrative Solon had begun to beam, identifying readily the
slender but important vertebrae of fact upon which Billy had organized
this drama of his fancy. At the close he shook hands warmly with our
hero.
"This has been a splendid day's work, William Durgin!" and Billy beamed
in his turn.
"I wasn't goin' to let him know we thought there was only one," he said.
"Precisely where your training showed, my boy. Any one could have handed
Potts that proof, but it took you to handle the case after the scoundrel
had said 'Which one?' Well, it's Potts's move now.
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