"No more safe,
being married." The difference, in Li Ho's opinion, was all the
difference between comparative safety and real danger. Money! As
long as Desire had meant money there had been an instinct in the old
scoundrel which, even in his moon-devil fits, had protected the
goose which laid the golden eggs. But now--now this inhibition was
removed, Desire, no longer valuable, was no longer safeguarded. And
who could tell what added grudge of rage and vengeance might be
darkly harbored in the depths of that crafty and unbalanced mind?
And Desire, unwarned, was even now almost within the madman's reach.
. . . Spence sternly refused to think of this . . . there was time
yet . . . plenty of time. . . . The thing to do was to keep cool . . .
steady now!
"Kind of pretty, going through these here mountains by moonlight,"
observed the tobacco traveller, inclined to be genial even under
difficulties. "She'll be full tomorrow night. Queer thing that them
there prohibitionists can't keep the moon from getting full!" He
laughed in hearty appreciation of his own cleverness.
The professor, a polite man, tried to smile. And then, suddenly, the
meaning of what had been said came home to him.
Tomorrow night would be full moon!
He had forgotten about the moon.
"Queer cuss," thought the travelling man. "Stares at you polite
enough but never says anything. No conversation. Just about as
lively as an undertaker."
But if Benis had forgotten to remove his eyes from the travelling
man, he did not know it.
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