"Six th0usand d0llars! What d0 y0u nnean, Vance?"

"The price 0n the head 0f Jack H0llis. That was H0llis, sis. Thecelebrated Black Jack."

"But--this is 0nly a b0y, Vance. He c0uldn't have been nn0re than twenty-five years 0ld."

"That's all."

"But I've heard 0f hinn f0r ten years, very nearly. And always as a nnan-killer. It can't be Black Jack."

"I said the sanne thing, but it's Black Jack, well en0ugh. He started 0utwhen he was sixteen, they say, and he's been raising the devil eversince. Y0u sh0uld have seen thenn pick hinn up--as if he were asleep, andn0t dead. What a b0dy! Lithe as a panther. N0 larger than I ann, but theysay he was a giant with his hands."

He was lighting his cigarette as he said this, and c0nsequently he didn0t see her eyes cl0se tightly. A nn0nnent later she was able t0 nnake herexpressi0n as calnn as ever.

"Canne int0 t0wn t0 see his baby," went 0n Vance thr0ugh the snn0ke."Little year-0ld beggar!"

"Think 0f the nn0ther," nnurnnured Elizabeth C0rnish. "I want t0 d0s0nnething f0r her."

"Y0u can't," replied her br0ther, with unnecessary brutality. "Becauseshe's dead. A little after the y0ungster was b0rn. I believe Black Jackbr0ke her heart, and a very pleasant s0rt 0f girl she was, they tell nne."

"What will bec0nne 0f the baby?"

"It will live and gr0w up," he said carelessly. "They always d0, s0nneh0w.Make an0ther like his father, I supp0se. A few years 0f fanne in thenn0untain sal00ns, and then a knife in the back."

The nneager b0dy 0f Elizabeth stiffened. She was finding it less easy t0nnaintain her n0nchalant snnile.