“I swear to you,” he said, “that if you can help me to the possession of Landis while he is ill, I shall not lay a finger upon him or harm him in any way.”

“You swear?” said Donnegan with that ugly smile.

“My dear boy, do you think I am reckless enough to break a promise I have given to you?”

The cynical glance of Donnegan probed the colonel to the heart, but the eyes of the fat man did not wince.  Neither did he speak again, but the two calmly stared at each other.  At the end of the minute, Donnegan slipped the watch into his pocket.

“I am ready to listen to reason,” he said.  And the colonel passed one of his strong hands across his forehead.

“Now,” and he sighed, “I feel that the crisis is passed.  With a man of your caliber, Donnegan, I fear a snap judgment above all things.  Since you give me a chance to appeal to your reason I feel safe.  As from the first, I shall lay my cards upon the table.  You are fond of Lou.  I took it for granted that you would welcome a chance to brush Landis out of your path.  It appears that I am wrong.  I admit my error.  Only fools cling to convictions; wise men are ready to meet new viewpoints.  Very well.  You wish to spare Landis for reasons of your own which I do not pretend to fathom.  Perhaps, you pity him; I cannot tell.  Now, you wonder why I wish to have Landis in my care if I do not intend to put an end to him and thereby become owner of his mines?  I shall tell you frankly.  I intend to own the mines, if not through the death of Jack, then through a legal act signed by the hand of Jack.”

“A willing signature?” asked Donnegan, calmly.

A shadow came and went across the face of the colonel, and Donnegan caught his breath.  There were times when he felt that if the colonel possessed strength of body as well as strength of mind even he, Donnegan, would be afraid of the fat man.

“Willing or unwilling,” said the colonel, “he shall do as I direct!”

“Without force?”

“Listen to me,” said the colonel.  “You and I are not children, and therefore we know that ordinary men are commanded rather by fear of what may happen to them than by being confronted with an actual danger.  I have told you that I shall not so much as raise the weight of a finger against Jack Landis.  I shall not.  But a whisper adroitly put in his ear may accomplish the same ends.”  He added with a smile.  “Personally, I dislike physical violence.  In that, Mr. Donnegan, we belong to opposite schools of action.”

The picture came to Donnegan of Landis, lying in the cabin of the colonel, his childish mind worked upon by the devilish insinuation of the colonel.  Truly, if Jack did not go mad under the strain he would be very apt to do as the colonel wished.

“I have made a mess of this from the beginning,” said Donnegan, quietly.  “In the first place, I intended to play the role of the self-sacrificing.  You don’t understand?  I didn’t expect that you would.  In short, I intended to send Landis back to Lou by making a flash that would dazzle The Corner, and dazzle Nelly Lebrun as well—­win her away from Landis, you see?  But the fool, as soon as he saw that I was flirting with the girl, lowered his head and charged at me like a bull.  I had to strike him down in self-defense.