ur face and go on to bed. And be sure," he added witheringly, "you
pull the soogans over your head, so you won't hear the dying shriek of
our victims. We're liable to get kinda excited and torture 'em a while
before we kill 'em."

"Aw, gwan!" gulped Happy Jack mechanically. "You make me sick! If yuh
think I'm goin' to swaller all that, you're away off! You wouldn't dast
do nothing of the kind; and, if yuh did, you'd sure have a sweet time
layin' it onto me!"

"Oh, I don't know," drawled the Native Son, with a slow, velvet-eyed
glance, "any jury in the country would hang you on your looks, Happy. I
knew a man down in the lower part of California, who was arrested, tried
and hanged for murder. And all the evidence there was against him was
the fact that he was seen within five miles of the place on the same day
the murder was committed; and his face. They had an expert physiognomist
there, and he swore that the fellow had the face of a murderer; the poor
devil looked like a criminal--and, though he had one of the best lawyers
on the Coast, it was adios for him."

"I s'pose you mean I got the face of a criminal!" sputtered Happy Jack.
"It ain't always the purty fellers that wins out--like you 'n' Pink. I
never seen the purty man yit that was worth the powder it'd take to
blow him up! Aw, you fellers make me sick!" He went off, muttering his
opinion of them all, and particularly of the Native Son, who smiled
while he listened. "You go awn and start something--and you'll wisht you
hadn't," they heard him croak from the big gate, and chuckled over his
wrath.

As a matter of fact, the Happy Family, as a whole, or as individuals,
had no intention of committing any great violence that evening. Pink
wanted to see just where this new band of sheep was spending the night,
and to find out, if possible, what were the herders' intentions. Since
the boys were all restless under their worry, and, since there is a
contagious element in seeking a trouble-zone, none save Happy Jack, who
was "sore" at them, and Weary stayed behind in the coulee with old Patsy
while the others rode away up the grade and out toward Antelope coulee
beyond.

They meant only to reconnoiter, and to warn the herders against
attempting to cross Flying U coulee; though they were not exactly
sure that they would be perfectly polite, or that they would confine
themselves rigidly to the language they were wont to employ at dances.
Andy Green, in particular, seeme