Val had walked out very early in the morning to see if the gray horses were in the barn, and when he returned he strolled along to the café where he was to meet Will.

He loved the quaint old town which had been a trading post, which had been founded in the twelfth century, or before.  He loved standing on the bank of the swift-flowing Inn River, and watching the water.  He loved the mountains that loomed so close to the city, and the picturesque buildings of a bygone time.  Sometimes he thought he never wanted to leave Innsbruck, but he knew the wishing was useless, for they never remained long in one place.

In Innsbruck Will had done no gambling.  Here he thought only of Louise, and Val liked her himself.  He had met Louise twice, and they had talked for a long time on both occasions.  The first time was at the Munding, and she had bought him a pastry.  That was when she had merely met Will Reilly when riding, and had not really known him at all.  She had been very curious, but Val was used to that; women were always curious about Will Reilly.

Val never said that Will was a gambler.  He was a mining man, a story in which there was some truth, for Will did have a mining claim in Nevada, and he owned shares in several mining ventures.

Val walked along the Maria-Theresien-Strasse to where it became the narrow Herzog-Friedrich-Strasse, and went on until he came to a little café where Will told him Goethe used to come to sip wine.  He went inside and found a table near a window where he could watch the street.

A man came walking briskly along the street, but when he was opposite the café he stopped and loitered idly.

Val was curious.  For more than five years Will Reilly had been training him always to observe anything that seemed unusual or out of place, and this man had been hurrying as if he was afraid of being late, and then had stopped and merely loafed.  The hour was early, the café had just opened, and there was no one else about.

Then another man strolled up the street and, without paying any attention to the one who waited outside, he entered the café and seated himself at a table facing that of Val, with the doorway between them.

A couple of minutes later two men came up the street and stopped outside to talk.

Val had eaten breakfast at that café for several consecutive mornings, and had never seen any of these men there before.  Suddenly, he was frightened, and he remembered what Luigi, the Italian hostler, had told him.

He started to get up, but the man facing him lifted a hand.  "Stay where you are, boy.  You will not be hurt."

"I am going because I do not wish you to be hurt," Val said.

The man seemed amused.  "Us?  Hurt?" he said, and added, "I am sorry you have to see this, boy, but your uncle must be taught a lesson, and it will do you no harm.  You may learn from it."

"My uncle has learned a great many lessons."

"But evidently not the essential one.  Ah, here he comes."

Will Reilly strolled up the street with that casual elegance that was so much a part of him.  As he opened the door Val started to cry out, but a rough hand was placed across his mouth, stifling his shout.

Will stepped through the door and the two men on the street pivoted sharply about and stepped in after him, seizing both his arms from behind.