"_What?_" Allie inquired, sharply. Then when her father had
repeated himself, she asked with even greater intensity: "Wha'd he
say to that? He didn't take it, did he?"

"He laughed kinda queer an' says all I got to do to give him a
good night's rest is to wire Henry Nelson the deal's closed. An'
him with less 'n a hundred dollars!"

Allie spoke again in great relief. "Lord! You give me a turn." Her
expression altered, her lips parted in a slow smile. "So! He's
pore, eh? Pore as we was. Well, I declare!" She rose and turned
her back upon her father.

"No, he ain't pore," Briskow said, irritably. "Not now he ain't. I
says it's his deal an' his money, an' we got plenty. An' I stuck
to it."

Allie wheeled suddenly at this announcement. She uttered a cry of
protest; then, "What are you talkin' about?" she roughly demanded.

"We had some argyment an' I got kinda r'iled. Finally he says if I
feel that way we'll go pardners. He wouldn't listen to nothin'
else, an'--that's how it stands. He made twenty-four thousand an'
I--"

"You--You _fool!_"

Gus Briskow looked up with a start to find his daughter standing
over him, her face ablaze, her deep bosom heaving. He stared at
her in frank amazement, doubting his senses. Never had Allegheny