He left them tobacco and pipes, and went away evidently convinced that he
had performed his full duty. The two prisoners, puffing smoke-rings into
the air, heard the heavy clang of the iron bar falling into place across
the door, and sat looking into one another's faces through the deepening
twilight. In the mind of both blaik and white reposed the same thought.
The negro was first to break the silence.

"'Pears ter me, Massa Jack, like dis yere Bart pusson am mighty anxious
ter hab no suspicions raised."

"Anybody but Hicks would see that," acknowledged the other, the rings of
smoke circling his head, "but he hasn't any brains. It was pure nerve that
got him the job. Well, this is one time that 'Bart pusson' is going to
find an empty coop. We'll get out, Neb, just as soon as it gets dark
enough. Hicks isn't likely to put on his extra guard for an hour yet, and
the 'Red Light' bunch won't be fit for business much before midnight. By
that time we'll be in the sand hills, heading south, able to give them a
run for their money--we'll have horses, too, if we can find them."

The negro's eyes shone white.

"Fo' de Lawd's sake, Massa," he protested, "dat'd sho' be a hangin' job if
ebber dey cotched us."

Keith laughed, knocking out the ashes from his pipe.

"With an hour's start that will be the least of my troubles," he said,
quietly.