ve year tryin' to figger out the sort o' sense stewin' in the
think tanks o' the crazy guys who live in cities an' make up po'try
about grass. Mebbe you've heard all the play?"

Bud shook his head. He drank up his lager, and took the opportunity of
glancing over his glass at Jeff's back. Then he set his glass down and
ordered another bottle for both of them.

"No," he observed. "I ain't heard much. I heard there's been some
hangin'. The Lightfoot gang, eh? Seems to me I've heard talk of 'em
down our way. So you boys here got in on 'em?"

Ju set the two fresh bottles on the counter while Bud lit his cigar.

"That's so," he said with appreciation, and propped his folded arms
upon the bar. "It sort o' come sudden, too." He smiled faintly. "It
come as I said it would right here in this bar. The boys was settin'
around sousing, an' pushin' round the cyards, an' the Vigilante
Committee was settin' on a pow-wow. I was tellin' 'em ef the folks had
the sense of a blind louse they'd dope out a reward, an' make it big.
I guessed they'd get the gang quick that way. Y'see, it don't matter
who it is, folks is all after dollars--if there's only enough of 'em.
Life's jest made up of two sorts o' guys, the fellers with dollars an'
them without. Wal, I guess it's a sort o' play goes right on all the
time. You just raise hell around till you get 'em, the other fellers
raise hell till you ain't. It's a sort o' give and take, though I
reckon the taking seems to be the general scheme adopted. That's how
it comes Lightfoot an' his gang got a nasty kink in most o' their
necks. It's them dollars. Some wise guy around here jest took himself
by the neck and squeezed out a present of ten thousand dollars to the
feller who'd sell up Lightfoot's good-will an' business. What
happened? Why, it took jest about twenty-four hours for the
transaction to be put through. Say, ever hear tell of a time when
ther' wa'an't some feller waiting ready to grab on to ten thousand
dollars? No, sir. You never did. No, nor no one else, 'cep' he spent
the whole of his life in the foolish house."

"Some one betrayed 'em--for ten thousand dollars?"

Bud's question came with a sharp edge to it.

"Don't guess 'betray's' the word, mister. It was jest a commercial
transaction. You jest need to get a right understanding of them
things. When I got something to sell, an' you're yearnin' to dope out
the dollars for it--say ten thousand of 'em--