Smeds frowned some more and put his whole brain to work. He was no genius but he had plenty of low, mean cunning and he had learned how to stay alive. "Sounds damned dangerous to me. Something we'd need help on if we wanted to come out of it in one piece."

"Right. Even the easy part, going up there and liberating the damned thing, would be more than a two-man job. The Great Forest might be a pretty rough place for guys who don't know anything about the woods. I figured we'd need two more guys, one of them who knows about the woods."

"Already we're talking a four-way split here, Tully. On how much?"

"I don't know. Give them time to bid it up, I think we'd be set for life. And I ain't talking no four-way split, neither, Smeds. Two ways. All in the family."

They looked at each other. Smeds said, "You got the plan. Tell me."

"You know Timmy Locan? Was in the army for a while?"

"About long enough to figure out how to go over the hill. Yeah. He's all right."

"He was in long enough to learn how it works. We might run into soldiers up there. Would your heart be broken if they found him in an alley with his head bashed in?"

That was an easy one. "No." His heart would be fine as long as it wasn't Smeds Stahl they found.

"How about Old Man Fish? He used to trap in the Great Forest."

"Couple of straight arrows."

"That's what we need. Honest crooks. Not some guys who might try to do us out of our share. What do you say? Want to go for it?"

"Tell me how much is in it again."

"Enough to live like princes. We going to go talk to those guys?"

Smeds shrugged. "Why not? What have I got better to do?" He looked at the ceiling. "You better get some clothes on."

Heading down the stairs, Smeds said, "You'd better do the talking." "Good idea."

Heading up the street, Smeds asked, "You ever killed anybody?"