While Johnny had been talking to Margaret there was being enacted a far different scene down on the Bar H. The foreman\'s anger at the condition of his three men when they had ridden in the day before was newly aroused by Smitty the following morning, when he arrived and shamefacedly slunk into the bunkhouse. Big Tom stormed about the room, demanding to know why he had to have such sheep in his outfit. He wanted to know what they had done, and they could not tell him; he asked where they had gone, and they replied to the SV. What had they done there? They could not recall. Dahlgren spoke vaguely of "going after th\' feller," but had no idea who he was, or anything about it; but they all remembered that Nelson had been with them, in the same condition as themselves, and that he had terrorized the SV household. Smitty corroborated the last and rejoiced at the agility which had twice saved him. There were some things to which his memory clung.

Little Tom Carney and Wolf Forbes enjoyed their friends\' discomfiture, at the same time sharing in some of Big Tom\'s disgust.

Wolf looked at them pityingly. "You make me sick!" he sneered. "Fine bunch of sage hens—all you think about is liquor. How many times have I[108] told you to let th\' stuff alone, as long as you couldn\'t drink like humans?"

"Parson Forbes has th\' floor," growled Carson. "Bein\' human, he——"

"That\'ll do!" snapped Wolf. "You know how much parson there is to me. Who shot you out of a lynchin\' bee back in Texas?" he demanded.

"Who got me into it?" demanded Carson. "They was watchin\' that bank, an\' I told you so!"

"You said so because you got scared at th\' last minute!" retorted Wolf. "If I didn\'t have to waste half an hour arguin\' with you—oh, what of it! That ain\'t excusin\' you from bein\' a fool day before yesterday, is it?"

"Mebby you could \'a\' done better?" ironically queried Dahlgren.

"If he couldn\'t, I\'d fire him!" snapped Big Tom.

"You wouldn\'t have to fire me; I\'d quit!" replied Wolf.

"Then why don\'t you do somethin\', \'stead of loafin\' along that northwest line, pertendin\' you has got to watch for rustlers an\' them Double X fellers?" sneered Fraser.

"I will!" shouted Wolf. "I\'m goin\' to watch one man—not everybody on th\' range. There\'s only one man in this country that ain\'t got a good reason for bein\' here—that\'s Nelson—an\' I\'m goin\' to watch him till I get what I want. Then mebby you fools will be able to bury him for me. Think so?"

"I\'m wishin\' you luck," said Smitty. "You\'ll need it. You be careful who it is that gets buried."

[109]

Wolf looked at him pityingly. "You pore sheep!" he said, "I\'m sorry you was so lively in th\' SV house, cussed if I ain\'t!" He turned to Big Tom. "Do I go?"

"You do," said the foreman. "Somethin\' is wrong, an\' we got to fix it. Stay as long as you has to. I\'m not worryin\' about you—but I am scared th\' cows will eat these four chumps. They shore is green an\' tender. When you startin\'?"

"Right soon," answered Forbes, going out.

Big Tom stood in the doorway and watched his two-gun man enter the corral. His confidence in the wiry killer was not built upon hearsay. Cold, venomous, and quick, he was more like a rattler than his namesake. Up to now every man who had faced Wolf Forbes had faced death, a death swift and certain.

In due time Wolf rode northward and arrived in Gunsight, where he loafed around exchanging gossip with everyone he knew. George was coaxed to talk, but his stupidity did what a mediocre cleverness might have failed to do. He yielded nothing that Wolf could use, and a few things which did not suit Wolf\'s needs. With Jerry, the harness-maker, the conversation was a husk without a kernel, and the second-hand saddles were of no value to Wolf, who was searching down things which were against his own convictions. Two-Spot smoked his cigar and rambled aimlessly in his garrulous monologue. He was hopeless from Wolf\'s viewpoint. Dave\'s admissions were barren of information of a constructive sort. Fanning did not know anything, and Dailey was as bad. Wolf finally gave up[110] the effort and went back to the Palace, there to await the coming of Nelson.

Johnny entered the saloon some time later, nodded to its occupants, but kept on going toward the rear door. "Be back after I eat," he said.

George looked out to see who was washing. "This ain\'t no time to come in for dinner," he growled.

"There\'s never no time like th\' present. Can\'t help it," retorted Johnny. "While I\'m washin\' you rustle th\' chuck."

"Wolf was here askin\' about you," said George.

"That so? Well, that ain\'t no crime."

"Can he shoot better\'n you?" queried the cook. "He says he\'ll shoot against anybody in this country with six-guns, any fashion, for a dollar a shot. Does it sound like money?"

"If I could shoot that good I\'d be too rich to be restin\' up between cow-punchin\' jobs," gurgled Johnny through a double handful of water. "Reckon he knows what he\'s talkin\' about, or he wouldn\'t risk bein\' took up."

"Well," said the cook, "I\'ve heard somethin\' from them that seen it. If you aim to go ag\'in\' him, let me know ahead of time, will you?"

"I ain\'t aimin\' to," replied Johnny.

"Hey! Wait!" exclaimed the cook, disappearing. He returned with a clean towel. "Use this. That ain\'t fit for a dog no more."

Johnny looked at the old one and smiled. It was quite some distance from the condition which called for a change of towels at the Delmonico. "Thanks.[111] Th\' dirt won\'t come off this one. What about dinner?"

"Gosh! I forgot," said George, dodging into the kitchen.

Johnny had company while he ate, for the cook entertained him with an account of Wolf\'s visit, to all of which Johnny paid polite interest, but he hastened his meal. Then he slowed again, for George was beginning to get at the kernels.

"Has he lost his saddle?" asked the cook.

"Don\'t know."

"Must a\' busted it. He asked me if I knowed where there was a good second-hand one, gold or brass trimmed. An\' say, keep yore eyes on yourn; he asks me if you tote it up to yore room nights. I didn\'t tell him you keep it in th\' kitchen, but I did say there wasn\'t no room in yore room for no saddle. He wants one, I reckon, because he went to Jerry\'s when he left here."

"He wouldn\'t take my saddle," said Johnny. "He was havin\' fun with you."

"Mebby," admitted George. "He was in a jokin\' humor, \'cause he laughed an\' says he reckoned you\'d get th\' courtin\' bug, like all th\' rest, an\' go callin\' on that Arnold gal. An\' he says he\'ll bet you get throwed as hard as th\' rest of \'em. I gave it to him right back an\' says that you an\' me are both alike—we hates wimmin."

"They\'ve got to hustle if they rope you or me," laughed Johnny. "What else did he say?"

"That\'s all, that an\' what I told you before. Where you goin\' now?"

"Round to Dave\'s for a game of cards, mebby.[112] Wolf an\' Fanning are there," answered Johnny, taking his hat from the floor and arising.

"You ain\'t repeatin\' what I said, are you?" asked George, somewhat anxiously. "He didn\'t mean nothin\' by it."

"No; why should I? We all like to joke. I ain\'t got nothin\' against Wolf. See you at supper," and Johnny went out the rear door. As he neared the corner of the kitchen Two-Spot turned it and bumped into him. "Wolf\'s askin\' about you all over town," he muttered, and then, louder: "Why\'n blazes don\'t you look out?"

"Some day I\'ll chuck you over th\' roof," retorted Johnny. "If you\'d keep yore head up you\'d see where you was goin\'!"

"Keep yore own head up! You don\'t own this town!"

Johnny turned as he reached Dave\'s door. "If I did I\'d run you out of it," and entering, he slammed the door behind him.

There was a laugh from the bar, where Wolf and Fanning were still chatting with Dave. Wolf swung the conversation around to the SV and kept it there as long as he could after Johnny joined them. He worked around to Squint, and to the kidnapping of the Doc, and endeavored to get a careless admission from Johnny; but the latter evaded the traps. He showed no disinclination to talk about Wolf\'s pet subjects and even helped the other to keep the conversation on them. He disposed of the committee\'s visit to the SV by saying that either the Arnolds knew nothing at all about recent[113] events, or else they had been terrorized by the visitors\' actions and had been unable to think clearly or even to talk. He admitted that the committee was in no condition to handle the situation, and that he was as bad as any member of it. As to what had really occurred out there the details were lost to him because he had been too drunk to know much about anything; and in this he was backed up by what Wolf, himself, knew about the other members of the committee. He remembered that he had got rough and that someone, he thought it had been Smitty, had yelled something about getting somebody, and they had followed him to do it.

"Give us another round, Dave," said Wolf. "I ain\'t losin\' no sleep about th\' Doc—" he began again.

Johnny interrupted him and led the way to a table. "Ain\'t no use standin\' up all afternoon. We\'ll drink \'em over here, Dave."

Fanning and Wolf followed and the afternoon passed in cards, drinking, and talking. Johnny drank his liquor every round without losing his head, for which he was indebted to the proprietor. When supper time came around Fanning pushed back the table.

"I just can\'t make nothin\' these days," he growled. "I never saw a game break so even; bet nobody\'s lost ten dollars."

"I won somewhere \'round four," laughed Wolf, arising.

"I\'m out five," grinned Johnny. "Jim has played all afternoon to get that dollar. Goin\' home, Wolf, or you aimin\' to make a night of it?"

[114]

"Got to go," answered Wolf, "but I got sense enough to get my supper in town," he smiled. "Lead th\' way, Jim."

"Hey!" called Dave, "somebody gimme a hand with this keg?"

Johnny, who was last in the line, turned. "Be right after you fellers," he said, over his shoulder. "Where do you want it, Dave?"

"Up on th\' buck, under th\' bar. Easy, now! Up! Good."

"That was fine baby stuff I was drinkin\' all afternoon," chuckled Johnny. "How\'d you keep th\' color?"

"Young man," smiled Dave, "yore business is punchin\' cows; mine\'s sellin\' liquor. Go on, now, an\' eat. Keep yore wits sharp."

While they were at supper there was a commotion outside and four punchers from the Double X stamped in. "Hello, fellers!" said Slim Hawkes, throwing his sombrero on a table.

"It smells good," grunted Wilkes, and turned to the other two. "Boys, this is Nelson: Nelson, shake han\'s with Gus Thompson an\' Bill Sage." He nodded coldly to Wolf, who returned it with reserve.

"What brought you hoodlums to town?" asked Fanning. "You fellers act scared of Gunsight. Ol\' Dailey got you buffaloed?"

"I reckon it\'s th\' twenty miles," said Slim, dragging a table up to the one then in use. "Hey, George! Can\'t you move faster\'n that?"

"Go roll in a ditch," came the polite reply.

"Well," said Wilkes, "we was ridin\' near th\' east[115] line when we discovers we was goin\' to be late for supper, an\' th\' ranchhouse bein\' near twenty miles, an\' th\' town only a couple, we votes for a ho-tel feed an\' a session in Dave\'s." He turned toward the kitchen. "Hey, George! We saw dust above th\' Sherman trail an\' figgers it\'s Buffalo. Is he due tonight? Thought I\'d tell you so you could get ready for th\' old codger."

George stuck his head in the doorway. "Any more hard luck comin\' this evenin\'?" he demanded. "Can\'t somebody trail in after him so I can keep on a-workin\'?"

"You get back in there an\' go to work!" warned Thompson. "We\'re hungry!"

Wolf arose, paid his bill, and took up his hat. "Well, I\'m off. So-long, fellers," and he strolled out.

"Which ain\'t causin\' me no tears," muttered Slim. "He likes us \'bout as well as we like him. Here comes th\' cook. Good for you, George!"

When the Double X squad had nearly finished, the rumble of a wagon was heard, rapidly getting nearer. Soon it passed the side of the hotel, and ceased.

"There\'s Ol\' Allus-Late!" grumbled George.

"I\'ll give him a hand," said Johnny, arising and going out. "It\'ll save you time."

"Don\'t strain yoreself on my account," replied George.

"Hello, Buffalo!" said Johnny, starting to unhitch. "I\'ll put these boys in th\' shed an\' you go eat. George is ready for you. You can feed \'em later. If you\'ll trust me, I\'ll do it for you; I watched you last time."

"Much obliged, sonny," smiled the old man. "Yo\'re[116] right obligin\', but I allus eat last. They\'ve done good today, considerin\' th\' load, an\' nothin\'s too good for \'em."

"Thought you came back light?"

"Got near a load of hides—can\'t you smell \'em?"

"I shore can; but I\'m so slow witted they didn\'t mean anythin\' to me. Green, too?" he suggested.

"Yep," replied the freighter. "Picked \'em up all along; but I won\'t get no more this trip. Th\' Triangle won\'t have none—an\' I ain\'t goin\' to go out of my way to call at th\' Bar H. Got enough, an\' I\'m goin\' right through. I\'m allus glad to git home."

"I bet you are," replied Johnny. "Ain\'t anythin\' more I can do, is there?"

"No, sonny; thankee. I appreciate yore help. I ain\'t as young as I used ter be, nor as quick. Thankee; good night."

Johnny went to the saloon, where a sudden outburst of voices told him he would find Fanning and the Double X men. As he opened the door a roar of laughter greeted him.

"Cussed if that ain\'t rich!" shouted Slim, jumping up and down. "Th\' Doc stole from his peaceful fireside. Oh! Ho! Ho! An\' to \'tend to his friends, th\' SV! By th\' Lord! Mebby we\'ll do it over again, ourselves, sometime, when we feel extra good!"

"I\'d give ten dollars to shake han\'s with th\' man that done it," laughed Sage. "I bet Big Tom rolled on th\' floor when he heard it—an\' bit th\' furniture!"

"But how\'d he get Squint\'s outfit?" demanded Wilkes.

[117]

Dave told of Squint\'s disappearance and of the deep sorrow darkening the sun, whereupon an eager discussion took place. This lasted until Dailey came in and impatiently pounded on a table with the butt of his gun.

"Order, Gents; order!" he shouted. "My time\'s valuable—who are goin\' to be th\' victims?"

"Shore we\'ll order!" yelled Slim. "All up, boys! Dailey\'s treatin\'," and despite his protests, he found that he was. Soon after this a six-handed game got into full swing.

Dave\'s vexation grew steadily and passed the anger point without stopping. He was tired, and now his labors were only beginning. Two-Spot was living up to Dave\'s opinion of him, for he had not been much in evidence around the saloon since noon, and had not appeared at all since the Double X punchers had come in. Dave went to the front door and called, and then he went to the rear door and yelled, but received no response. Thinking that he saw a shadowy figure skulking in the darkness, he yelled again, and with no honeyed promises as the burden of his message. Glancing around in the darkness as if to penetrate it by an act of will, he shouted a threat and stamped back to the bar, slamming the door so hard that the windows shook.

"Come on, Dave!" cried Dailey, cheerful in view of his ownership of the last pot. "What you so slow about?"

"If he\'d quit pickin\' on Two-Spot," said Thompson, "an\' tend to business, folks would like it better."

"Anybody that don\'t like it can get out!" retorted[118] Dave. "He\'s never around when there\'s work to be did!"

The evening passed swiftly and midnight was not far off when Dave found it necessary to draw on the contents of the new keg, and he disappeared below the bar for a few minute............