The manner in which Kent stared at Marette Radisson after her announcement that it was Dirty Fingers who had planned his escape must have been, he thought afterward, little less than imbecile.

He had wronged Fingers, he believed.

He had called him a coward and a backslider.

In his mind he had reviled him for helping to raise his hopes to the highest pitch, only to smash them in the end.

And all the time Dirty Fingers had been planning this! Kent began to grin.