“Because there’s more money in it.  And because it’s safer.”

“Safe!  Aw, hell!” The smouldering jealousy and hatred glared out of Barney’s greenish eyes.  “I always knew you had a yellow streak!  Something safe!  Aw, hell!”

“Don’t blow up, Barney.  What is the new game, Larry?” queried the old man.

Larry regarded the two men steadfastly.  He seemed reluctant to speak.

“Well?” prompted Old Jimmie.  “Is it something you don’t want to let us in on?”

“Of course I’ll let you in on it, and be glad to, if you want to come in,” Larry replied in his level tone.  “As I said, I’ve thought it all out and it’s a great proposition.  Here’s the game:  I’m going to run straight.”

For a moment all three sat astounded by this quiet statement from their leader.  Nothing he might have said could have been more unexpected, more stupefying.  The Duchess alone moved; she turned her head and held her sunken eyes upon her grandson.

Simultaneously the two men and Maggie stood up.

“The hell you say!” grated Barney Palmer.

“Larry, you gone crazy?” cried Old Jimmie.

Maggie moved a pace nearer him.  “Going to go straight?” she asked incredulously.

“Listen, all of you,” Larry said quietly.  “No, Jimmie, I’ve not gone crazy.  I’m merely going a little sane.  You just said I was a wonder at business, Jimmie.  I think I am myself.  I thought it all over as a business proposition.  Suppose we clean up fifty or a hundred thousand on a big deal.  We’ve got to split it several ways, perhaps pay a big piece to the police for protection, perhaps pay a lot of lawyers, and then perhaps get sent away for a year or several years, during which we don’t take in a nickel.  I figured that over a term of years my average income was mighty small.  As a business man it seemed to me that I was in a poor business, with no future.  So I decided to get into a new business that had a future.  That’s the size of it.”

“You’re turning yellow—­that’s the real size of it!” snarled Barney Palmer, half starting toward him.

“Better be a little careful, Barney,” Larry warned with tightening jaw.

“You really mean, Larry,” demanded Old Jimmie, “that you’re going to drop us after us counting on you and waiting for you so long?”

“I’m sorry about having kept you waiting, Jimmie.  But we’ve parted definitely.”  Then Larry added:  “Unless you want to travel my road.”

“Your road!  Never!” snapped Barney.

“And you, Jimmie?” Larry inquired, his eyes on Barney’s inflamed face.

“I don’t see your proposition.  And I’m too old a bird to start something new.  No, thanks.  I’ll stick to what I know.”

His next words, showing his long yellow teeth, were spoken slowly, but they were hard, and had a cutting edge.  “You’ve got a sweet idea of what’s straight, Larry:  dropping us without a leader, just when we need a leader most.”