The robbers knew their man, and they played a
shrewd game."
"It's easy enough to win when you play with loaded dice. I get boiling
mad when I think of these low-down, worthless rascals who don't stop at
any meanness, ready to commit murder for fifteen cents. They ought to be
treated worse than rattlesnakes. But, as you said just now, all this
don't help Will Cummins. But Will is all right, John. You know that as
well as I do."
"I came up here to hear you say so. I've pretty near lost faith in God
and man, I reckon."
"I lost faith in man long ago," answered Palmer, smiling sardonically.
"If the fall of Adam and the curse of Cain are fables,--as they are, of
course,--they are just as true as AEsop's fables, for all that. They hit
off human nature. But man isn't all. I've never belonged to any church,
as I've often told you. But the longer I live the more I trust in
Providence. Will Cummins was a good man, and he's all right, I tell
you."
"I feel that way myself. But I know my feeling in the matter don't alter
the facts any. How do you figure it out?"
"Well, my creed's about this: in spite of all the wickedness, this is a
beautiful old world.
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