Dailey, seated at a table, the everlasting pack of cards in front of him, beamed upon Fanning and Johnny as they entered. "Thought mebby nobody was goin\' to show up tonight," he said. "Dave\'s scared of me."

"I never did care much for wild animals," retorted Dave. "An\' I says that you shore go wild when you sees a deck of cards. If you\'d only win somethin\' once in a while, I wouldn\'t have a word to say."

"That\'s what makes him wild," chuckled Fanning. "Ben, how much has Nelson taken away from you?"

"Not very much, an\' I more than got it back from th\' others," retorted Dailey. "If I only had his luck with my skill—but what\'s th\' use?" he asked, shrugging his shoulders.

"You shore has got to have plenty of luck with yore skill," jibed Dave, "or you wouldn\'t even have a shirt left."

"Lemme ask you somethin\' seein\' that you know so much about poker," said Fanning. "How far should a man back two pairs?"

"Them assassins? You get up to this table, you scoffin\' innocent, an\' I\'ll show you when you ought to let loose of two pair," chuckled Dailey. "Who\'s this comin\'? Fraser! Come over here, Bill, an\' help me[280] rope a couple of tenderfeet into a little game of draw. They\'re shy tonight."

"Who\'s th\' other, besides me?" inquired Fraser, leaning against the bar.

"Huh!" snorted Dailey. "All right, then; help me rope in th\' other two."

"If I\'m goin\' to be yore come-on, what do I get out of it?" laughed Fraser.

"Every cussed thing you can get an\' hold onto, but you\'d better sand yore hands. Here\'s another sheep: Hello, Gurley! Yo\'re just in time to get a seat—I allus did like a five-handed game. Come on! Come on! Don\'t be afraid of th\' iron!"

"Make it four-handed for a little while," said Johnny. "That\'ll give Dailey a chance to stack it up in front of him all ready for me. I ain\'t as good at draw as some down here, but I can allus take it away from Ben, somehow. How\'s things on th\' Triangle, Gurley?"

"Slowin\' fast since them Double X fellers moved off. They made me wear out four cayuses a day. When will they finish up?"

"Purty soon, I reckon," answered Johnny, turning to Fraser. "You fellers are lucky. You don\'t get many strays over th\' mountain, or through that canyon, I reckon."

"Not any that I\'ve noticed," replied Fraser. "But we\'ve been plumb lazy in our round-ups. We got an awful sight of brandin\' to do next time."

"That so?" asked Johnny. "Been takin\' life easy an\' lettin\' \'em go?"

[281]

"Shore; that northwest section is so rough an\' full of brush that it\'s near impossible to get \'em out. There must be an awful lot of unmarked animals over there. We\'re goin\' to have our hands full with \'em."

"Aimin\' to tackle it this fall?" asked Johnny, carelessly.

"Mebby; mebby not. McCullough will save us from goin\' up th\' trail this year, so we might run a special combin\' up out there."

"I\'m runnin\' one right here!" exclaimed Dailey, banging his fist on the table. "I\'ll run a brand on you fellers that\'ll smart so you can\'t sleep. Come on, let\'s get a-goin\'. Hot iron! Hot iron! Ropers up!"

"I\'ll just take a bite out of you," said Fraser. "Anybody else hungry?"

"I just ain\'t never had enough to eat," chuckled Fanning, dragging up a chair, "not since I was a growin\' kid—an\' I ain\'t nowise shore that I had enough then."

"Which I says is frank, comin\' from th\' keeper of a hotel," laughed Gurley. "I\'ve often felt th\' same way when I ate in town. Turn it loose. I\'m on."

"Let me see," pondered Dailey, "we deals five cards, don\'t we?"

"We do; but only one at a time," replied Fanning patiently. "Don\'t turn no trump."

"It\'s sorta comin\' back to me," smiled Dailey, spreading out the cards to be cut to see who dealt "It\'s sorta comin\' back," he repeated.

"Then I\'m sayin\' it\'s due to be laig weary, for it\'s goin\' to have a long journey," remarked Dave. He looked up. "Cuss it! Here\'s th\' Doc! Hello, stranger![282] Shore, this is Gunsight. Hey, Dailey! he\'s got a whole satchel full; ring him into th\' game."

"Bet he\'s got a wad of wool soaked with that there chloryfoam. Somebody ride herd on him," laughed Fraser, but he was tense. It was the first time anyone had seen the Doc and Johnny together since the kidnapping had been explained, and anything was possible.

"I\'m not collecting buttons," retorted the Doc, smiling. "Hello, boys! Hello, Dave! Say, Fraser, I wish you would tell Big Tom not to send in the wagon for me; I\'ve changed my mind. I got a hurt leg, and it won\'t be right for nearly a week. Set out a round on me, Dave; I\'ll drink mine and hurry along. I just rode up to get word to Tom. Dave, you should use something milder when you load this whiskey—ever try nitric?"

"Don\'t you do it, Dave!" expostulated Dailey in alarm. "I can\'t hardly taste it now."

The Doc looked at him, shook his head sadly, said good night, and went out.

"He didn\'t act like his laig was hurt," remarked Fraser wonderingly. "But you can\'t never tell nothin\' about him; he\'s a queer bird. An\' changeable? There ain\'t no cussed word for it."

"I\'ve often wondered how he made a livin\'," said Johnny curiously.

"Well, I\'ll be cussed!" snorted Dailey incredulously. "You have been here all this time an\' don\'t know that? Huh! Th\' Doc is a sort of self-actin\' remittance man. He\'s got a wad banked back East, an\' once a month I cash a check for him."

[283]

"Two pairs," muttered Fanning, scratching his head, and telling the truth to mislead his opponents. "That was what I was askin\' about. Well, I\'ll see it an\' add a blue."

"Any time you raise a blue, you got two pairs, all right!" snorted Dailey. "Two pairs, deuces up!" He held up a finger warningly. "I hears hosses\' feets," he chuckled. "Move over, Gurley, an\' give th\' visitors a chance to edge in."

The sounds grew louder and soon stopped outside, and a laughing voice said, "There\'s Dailey, th\' hoss thief, tryin\' to learn th\' game. He\'s a persistent dummy, for he\'s allus tryin\'."

"He don\'t know one card from another," laughed a second voice.

"Hey!" shouted Dailey. "Come in here, you fellers, an\' I\'ll show you how much I know!"

Slim appeared, followed closely by Larry and Arch.

"They ought to make you roll up yore sleeves, you mosshead," said Larry, grinning.

"Sit down there!" ordered Dailey, "an\' I\'ll have you rollin\' up th\' bottoms of yore pockets!"

"Wimmin\' an children first," quoth Fanning. "Come on, Larry."

"Did you hear that?" snorted Larry, staring at him. "I shore will, now!"

"This is goin\' to be pay-day for me," said Dailey in great content. "Where th\' devil are we at, anyhow?"

Over at the bar Johnny and Slim were carrying on a low-voiced conversation and figuring on a piece of paper, while Arch and Dave entertained each other at[284] the other end of the counter. After a few minutes Johnny nodded his head in quiet satisfaction, put the paper in his pocket and, going up for a few words with Arch and Dave, wandered over to the table and sat down close to it, leaning back to enjoy the fight. He always found keen enjoyment in watching the storekeeper play, for Dailey\'s red-brown face was suffused with wrinkles of good nature, quite independent of how his fortune tended; his high, shining forehead and the bald spot above and behind it reflected the light and glistened. The eternal cigar he chewed on, cold, stale, and odorous, bobbed animatedly and his shrewd black eyes peered out from under bushy eyebrows, glittering, glinting, and alive with his emotions, like twin mirrors on which were reflected the subtle complexities of a nature enriched by a life crowded with experiences. He had no poker face, but knowing the sad fact, he had made an adept liar out of the one to which Nature had given so much expression.

He glanced at Johnny, his eyes dancing. "Yo\'re comin\' nearer th\' candle all th\' time, little moth," he laughed. "I\'ll singe them wings of yourn—you see! My flush takes this game. Deal \'em up, Dailey," he grunted, raking in chips and cards.

"Come on, Nelson," said Fanning. "Better get in this. Th\' old hoss thief is stackin\' \'em up for you."

"Huh!" Johnny remarked. "It ain\'t as big a pile as I was hopin\'. Oh, well," he sighed, "I\'m like th\' SV round-up: I take \'em as they come."

"How\'d they come to start that so early?" asked Fanning. "It\'s plumb warm for workin\' hard."

[285]

"Wanted to know how many head they had," answered Johnny. "An\' what do you know about workin\' hard?"

"He\'s seen me lots of times," cut in Dailey. "Did they find out?"

"Shore. They\'ve got twelve hundred an\' twenty, which would be fourteen hundred an\' fifty-five, if Arnold hadn\'t sold two hundred an\' thirty-five head."

"That\'s good, considerin\' how things has been let slide over there," remarked Fraser.

"Th\' old figgers of three years ago," said Johnny, "when Arnold took possession, were sixteen hundred an\' eighty-five, in th\' fall. Now, lemme see—do I need two or three?" he mused. "Reckon there ain\'t no use of throwin\' away a nice, high card, so I\'ll take two. I\'m plumb fond of holdin\' up a sider." He glanced at the two cards, slipped them into his hand and looked around. "Now, I was askin\' th\' Double X what factor they used to figger natural increase—an\' they says one to five. That right?"

"That\'s allus been sort of gospel down here," said Fanning. "For th\' Lord\'s sake!" he snorted, in playful pretense. "You takin\' eight cards again?"

"You ain\'t got no right to ask nobody but th\' dealer how many cards he takes," retorted Dailey. "As a matter of fact, I only took seven. I\'m h—l-bent to............