Still, they say he's a fighter, every inch of him, and has done some things worth mentioning."
"I imagine you describe him exactly, Tom," Nellie told him. "Very well, this time he's in a pretty bad way, for he has a number of serious injuries, and, besides has lost his left arm, though it's possible he may pull through if his constitution hasn't been weakened too much through dissipation."
"But what about Bertrand Hale, Nellie? Did he tell you anything that would be of interest to us?" asked Tom.
"I can see that you're beginning to suspect already, Tom," she continued. "For that is exactly what happened. He kept following me with his eyes as I moved around doing my work, after taking care of him. Then he beckoned to me, and asked whether I wasn't a particular friend of Jack Parmly and Tom Raymond.
"Of course I assured him it was so, and with that he looked so very eager that I knew he had a secret to tell me. This is the gist of what he said, boys. Just four days ago he was approached by a man he didn't know, who managed to get some strong drink into his hands, and after Hale had indulged more than he ought made a brazen proposition to him.
"It was to the effect that he was willing to
