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that showed a balance of less than ten dollars.
    By the time I had finished my examination the girl’s embarrassment was gone. She looked levelly at me, as did the man beside her. I felt in my pocket, found my copy of the photograph New York had sent us at the beginning of the hunt, and looked from it to her.
    â€œYour mouth could have shrunk, maybe,” I said, “but how could your nose have got that much longer?”
    â€œIf you don’t like my nose,” she said, “how’d you like to go to hell?” Her face had turned red.
    â€œThat’s not the point. It’s a swell nose, but it’s not Sue’s.” I held the photograph out to her. “See for yourself.”
    She glared at the photograph and then at the man.
    â€œWhat a smart guy you are,” she told him.
    He was watching me with dark eyes that had a brittle shine to them between narrow-drawn eyelids. He kept on watching me while he spoke to her out the side of his mouth, crisply:
    â€œPipe down.”
    She piped down. He sat and watched me. I sat and watched him. A clock ticked seconds away behind me. His eyes began shifting their focus from one of my eyes to the other. The girl sighed.
    He said in a low voice: “Well?”
    I said: “You’re in a hole.”
    â€œWhat can you make out of it?” he asked casually.
    â€œConspiracy to defraud.”
    The girl jumped up and hit one of his shoulders angrily with the back of a hand, crying:
    â€œWhat a smart guy you are, to get me in a jam like this. It was going to be duck soup—yeh! Eggs in the coffee—yeh! Now look at you. You haven’t even got guts enough to tell this guy to go chase himself.” She spun around to face me, pushing her red face down at me—I was still sitting in the rocker—snarling: “Well, what are you waiting for? Waiting to be kissed good-by? We don’t owe you anything, do we? We didn’t get any of your lousy money, did we? Outside, then. Take the air. Dangle.”
    â€œStop it, sister,” I growled. “You’ll bust something.”
    The man said:
    â€œFor God’s sake stop that bawling, Peggy, and give somebody else a chance.” He addressed me: “Well, what do you want?”
    â€œHow’d you get into this?” I asked.
    He spoke quickly, eagerly:
    â€œA fellow named Kenny gave me that stuff and told me about this Sue Hambleton, and her old man having plenty. I thought I’d give it a whirl. I figured the old man would either wire the dough right off the reel or wouldn’t send it at all. I didn’t figure on this send-a-man stuff. Then when his wire came, saying he was sending a man to see her, I ought to have dropped it.
    â€œBut hell! Here was a man coming with a grand in cash. That was too good to let go of without a try. It looked like there still might be a chance of copping, so I got Peggy to do Sue for me. If the man was coming today, it was a cinch he belonged out here on the Coast, and it was an even bet he wouldn’t know Sue, would only have a description of her. From what Kenny had told me about her, I knew Peggy would come pretty close to fitting her description. I still don’t see how you got that photograph. Television? I only wired the old man yesterday. I mailed a couple of letters to Sue, here, yesterday, so we’d have them with the other identification stuff to get the money from the telegraph company on.”
    â€œKenny gave you the old man’s address?”
    â€œSure he did.”
    â€œDid he give you Sue’s?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œHow’d Kenny get hold of the stuff?”
    â€œHe didn’t say.”
    â€œWhere’s Kenny now?”
    â€œI don’t know. He was on his way east, with something else on the fire, and couldn’t fool with this. That’s why he passed it on to me.”
    â€œBig-hearted Kenny,” I said. “You know Sue