He agreed to hypothecate the children over to Old Man Withers until such a time as he could secure the remainder of the $10,000. He figured it would be a matter of time before he hit a hot streak in Vegas and then not only would he get his kids back, they could all come out of hiding and win back his wife. Naturally it would be a matter of time before he ran afoul of someone with a short temper and a love of weaponry and wind up dead. Withers knew this and had no problem losing the money.