So he now repeated the business motives which he had presented to Barney and Old Jimmie.

As Larry talked he became more spontaneous, and after a time he was telling of the effect upon him of seeing various shrewd men locked up and unexercised in prison.

And presently his reminiscence settled upon one prison acquaintance: a man past middle age, clever in his generation, who had already done some fifteen years of a long sentence.

He was, said Larry, grim and he rarely spoke; but a close, wordless friendship had developed between them.

Only once, in an unusually relaxed mood, had the old convict spoken of himself, but what he had then said had had a greater part in rousing Larry to his new decision than the words of any other man.
"It was a queer story Joe let out," continued Larry.