“I’ve slept in lots worse places,” remarked Blinky as he saw the accommodations.
“Jail, for instance,” thought Jack, “and nobody ever deserved it better.”
Amidst a continuous roar and rattle of thunder and flashing of vivid lightning, Jack and the still unconscious Tom were thrown, none too gently, into the old barn. Luckily, the soft nest of hay saved them from bruises.
“Now let’s be getting back to the car,” exclaimed Duke.
“How about splitting that money right now?” growled Duggan.
There came a blinding glare of lightning. Jack, who was now lying on his side, saw Duke’s face, even as a flashlight illumines the countenances of a party waiting to have their pictures taken in a dark room. It was livid and evil, but determined.
There was a panther-like snarl in Blinky’s voice.
“Well, we don’t. You split it right here and now.”
This time the menace in Duggan’s tone was unveiled. He made a step toward Duke. The other recoiled. It was plain then that he feared his desperate employees.
“Hold on, Duggan,” warned Blinky, who appeared the more pacific of the two.
“What for? We were chumps ever to have given him the money.”
“Why, couldn’t we have knocked him on the head and got away with it, eh? That’s what I’d like to know.”
“I wish they’d all get to fighting among themselves,” thought Jack. “What’s that old saying, ‘When thieves fall out, honest men come into their own’?”
“Come, Duke, give us our money. Then you take your car—the one you brought us here in ahead of the boys—and get out.”
“Yes, the car’s hidden in the bushes yonder. Give us our money, go start your car, and then we’ll go our way and you yours. You won’t see us again.”
“What do you mean by ’any case’?” snarled Duke.
It was plain enough to Jack that he had planned to make dupes of the two men and take all the money. Now that his plans were frustrated, he was by turns humble and threatening.
“None of your impudence,” he growled; “aren’t you under me in the works? Don’t your jobs depend on me?”
“No more than yours depends on our keeping our mouths shut,” ground out Blinky.
Duggan shot out the words with menace. His eyes blazed.
“Look here, Duke, yes or no? Play or quit? Money or no money? Ah, you would, would you?”
Duke, as if by magic, had produced a pistol and was leveling it at the others. But Duggan was fully his match. A quick jab of his fist, a twist of his wrist, and the revolver went flying out of his hand. It spun through the air toward Jack, landing in the hay close beside the boy. Before any of the three quarreling men knew exactly what had occurred, Jack was facing them, the pistol just knocked out of Duke’s clasp in his hand.