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Updated: June 23, 2025
The girl's affectionate display was surely fanning that spark into a flame. Would the flame grow or would it sparkle up for one brief moment and then go out from pure lack of fuel? Suddenly something of the truth of the cause of her uncle's distress flashed across Jacky's mind. She knew Lablache's wishes in regard to herself. Perhaps she was the subject of that interview.
He's cautious, and besides Lablache has no wish to win his money." "But surely he must lose? Say, auntie, dear, it's not possible to play against Lablache's luck without losing some." "Well, dear, I can't say I know much of the game," with some perplexity, "but the doctor assures me that Lablache never hits him hard.
The clutch of the keg seemed like something alive; something so all-powerful like the twining feelers of the giant cuttle-fish. Slowly they saw the doomed man's legs disappear, and already the slimy muck was above his middle. The minutes dragged along the black slime rose it was at Lablache's breast.
Its proportions rise superior to its surroundings, as if to indicate in a measure its owner's worldly status in the district It is built entirely of stone, and roofed with slate the only building of such construction in the settlement. A wonderful center of business is Lablache's store the chief one for a radius of fifty miles.
Then he remembered that the girl herself had insisted that he must see the game through besides, he might yet win. He forced his thoughts to the coming hand. He was to deal. The deal, as far as he was concerned, was successful, His spirits rose. Four two. Lablache took up the cards to deal. John was watching as though his life depended upon what he saw. Lablache's clumsy shuffle annoyed him.
"My news is not the worst, as you seem to anticipate; although, perhaps, it might have been better," the officer began. "In fact, I am fairly well pleased with the result of my day's work." "Which means, I take it, that you have discovered a clew." Lablache's heavy eyes gleamed. "Rather more than a clew," Horrocks went on reflectively. "My information relates more to the man than to the beasts.
To any one who did not know him, his appearance might have been that of a drink-soaked tramp, so dishevelled and bleared he looked. Lablache took in the old man's condition in one swift glance from his pouched and fishy eyes. His greeting was cordial too cordial. Any other but the good-hearted, simple old man would have been suspicious of it. Cordiality was not Lablache's nature.
So this subtle change in the man was allowed to pass without comment by any except, perhaps, the money-lender, Lablache, and the shrewd, kindly wife of the doctor people not much given to gossip. It was only since the discovery of Lablache's perfidy that "Lord" Bill had understood what living meant. His discovery in Smith's saloon had roused in him a very human manhood.
The girl was forced to notice the money-lender. She did so reluctantly, however. "So you, too, sought shelter from the storm beneath old man Norton's hospitable roof. You are dead right, Mr. Lablache; we who live on the prairie need to be ever on the alert. One never knows what each hour may bring forth." The girl was still in her ball-dress. Lablache's fishy eyes noticed her charming appearance.
Bill pointed towards the store as the three men gathered round. "Old man" Smith also ranged himself with the others. "Look!" Bill smiled grimly. A buckboard had just drawn up outside Lablache's emporium and two people were alighting. A crowd had gathered round the arrivals. There was no mistaking one of the figures.
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