that guy again."

Bince held out his hand.

"All right," he said, "you might return the fifty then."

"Return nothin'," growled Krovac. "I sure done fifty dollars' worth last
night."

"Come on," said Bince, "hand over the fifty."

"Nothin' doin'," said Krovac with an angry snarl. "It might be worth
another fifty to you to know that I wasn't going to tell old man
Compton."

"You damn scoundrel!" exclaimed Bince.

"Don't go callin' me names," admonished Krovac. "A fellow that hires
another to croak a man for him for one hundred bucks ain't got no
license to call nobody names."

Bince realized only too well that he was absolutely in the power of the
fellow and immediately his manner changed.

"Come," he said, "Krovac, there is no use in our quarreling. You can
help me and I can help you. There must be some other way to get around
this."

"What are you trying to do?" asked Krovac. "I got enough on you now to
send you up, and I don't mind tellin' yuh," he added, "that I had a guy