military training all indicate to me that I should frisk him for deadly
weapons. I did that. Well, I found this check when I frisked
Loustalot back yonder. And--if a poor bankrupt like myself may be
permitted to claim a right, you are not so well entitled to that check
as I am. At least, I claim it by right of discovery."

"It is worthless until my father endorses it, Don Mike."

"His clear, bold chirography will not add a mite to its value, Miss
Parker. Checks by André Loustalot on the First National Bank of El
Toro aren't going to be honored for some little time. Why? I'll tell
you. Because Little Mike the Hustler is going to attach his
bank-account this bright April morning."

She laughed happily.

"You haven't wasted much time in vain regret, have you?" she teased
him. "When you start hustling for a living, you're a man what hustles,
aren't you?"

"'Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,'" he quoted. "Those sheep
weren't visible to us from the floor of the valley; so I take it I was
not visible to Loustalot's shepherds from the top of those hills when I
redeemed my father's promise to their employer. They'd never suspect
the identity of either of us, I dare say. Well, Pablo will hold him
_incomunicado_ until I've completed my investigations."

"Why are you incarcerating him in your private bastile, Don Mike?"

"Well, I never thought to profane my private bastile with that fellow,