‘All I’m asking you to do,’ Marriott said, ‘is hand the gun over. We’ll see to the rest.’

‘You don’t know when you’re well off, do you?’ Billy stared at him for a moment and then glanced, grinning again, at the others. ‘Let’s get something straight,’ he said. ‘I’ve got a gun. I bought it, and I’m keeping it, and if I have to protect myself with it, I will. Miss Petrie offered me good money for it the day we got here, and I turned it down. You don’t hold it against me, do you, miss? So I’m hanging on to it.’

‘If it’s a question of money,’ Marriott said, ‘we can pay you very well for the gun. I don’t know what Miss Petrie offered, but we’ll treble it.’

‘Will we?’ Billy asked contemptuously. ‘You mean, Sweeney will. But Sweeney doesn’t give a damn, does he? See him sitting over there. He’s quite happy. And so am I as long as no one starts interfering with me. It’s if they do that there’s likely to be trouble.’