"You can expect us at six o'clock," said Motor Matt, unlocking the door and pulling it open.
"Brayvo, my bully!" enthused Bunce. "An' ye'll come armed? Grattan is a hard man, an' sizable in a scrimmage."
"We'll be prepared to take care of Grattan," answered Matt. "Good night, Bunce."
"Good night it is," and the mariner vanished into the hall.
As soon as the door was again closed, Matt turned to find McGlory staring at him as though he thought he was crazy.
"Sufferin' tinhorns!" exclaimed the cowboy. "You can't mean it, pard?"
"Why, that old fore-and-after never told the truth in his life! He was using his imagination overtime."
"The chances are that he was, but there's a bare possibility he was telling the truth. We know Tsan Ti is in New York, and we can't feel absolutely sure that the Chinaman hasn't fallen into some trap laid by Grattan. If that's the case, the mandarin may lose his life."
"There's about as much chance of that, pard, as that you and I will get struck by lightning."
"We'll say the chance that Bunce is telling the truth is about one in a hundred. Well, Joe, that hundredth chance is what we can't take. Besides, Grattan is wanted. If he is really in the hills, and we can capture him, that will clear the road for Tsan Ti."
"But what will you do with the Eye of Buddha?"
"Will you tote it along on a trip of this kind?" proceeded Joe, "or will you leave it in the hotel safe? Maybe that's what Bunce is playing for."
"He don't know we have the ruby. How could he?"
"I'm by. But he's up to something, and that's a cinch."
"We'll have to give him the benefit of the doubt--on account of Tsan Ti."
"Consarn that bungling chink!" grunted the cowboy, venting his anger on the mandarin as the original cause of their perplexing situation. "You can't do a thing with that red stone but lug it along."
"If the banks were open between now and the time we start, I might leave it with one of them for safe-keeping."
"And go dead against your letter of instructions! Then you would be responsible."
"I'll think it over to-night," said Matt, and began his preparations for turning in.
But sleeping over the question didn't answer it. Matt's quandary lasted until far into the night.
He had no faith in Bunce; he couldn't understand why Tsan Ti should have sent the ruby to him for safe-keeping; he doubted the wisdom of going into the hills with the mariner, and he understood well the risk of carrying the priceless Eye of Buddha with him on the morning's venture.