“Yeah? Somebody ought to tell him I don’t like to play this way.”

Rolff repeated: “Put down your pistol.”

I said disagreeably:

“I’m damned if I will. I’ve shed twenty pounds trying to nab this bird, and I can spare twenty more for the same purpose.”

Rolff said:

“I’m not interested in what is between you two, and I have no intention of giving either of you⁠—”

Dinah Brand had wandered across the room. When she was behind Rolff, I interrupted his speech by telling her:

“If you upset him now you’re sure of making two friends⁠—Noonan and me. You can’t trust Thaler any more, so there’s no use helping him.”

She laughed and said: