Charles E. Van Loan

“ Half an hour later, the Great Gilmore, clad only in a nightshirt and a buckskin bag which hung about his neck, spun the cylinder of his forty-five, placed it under his pillow, tiptoed over to the window, tried the catch again, placed the back of a chair under the knob of the door, and, sighing heavily, blew out the light.
As he crawled between the rough sheets, the brown canvas bag rasped against his body, and he reached down and patted it as he might have patted an animal. Then he grunted luxuriously, and stretched himself until his aching joints cracked. ”

“ He never considers the lamb at all; it is only the price of wool which interests him. But there was a streak of sentiment in the Great Gilmore—not enough to interfere with business, but enough to make him shiver occasionally out of appreciation for the plight of the shorn ones. ”

“ No perfectly good spirit—would send an honest man out looking for—something that wasn't there. I'll have to tell John that so long as he meant well, he can go as clean as a whistle. That'll satisfy him—it isn't money he wants—it's a clean conscience. ”