igure in the midst of
a storm of congratulatory comment. They forgot all about Happy Jack,
asleep inside the house, and so their voices were not hushed. Indeed,
Big Medicine's bull-like remarks boomed full-throated across the coulee
and were flung back mockingly by the barren hills. Slim did not hear
a word they were saying; he was thinking it over, with that complete
mental concentration which is the chief recompense of a slow-working
mind. He was methodically thinking it all out--and, eventually, he saw
the joke.

"Well, by golly!" he bawled suddenly, and brought his palm down with
a terrific smack upon his sore leg--whereat his fellows laughed
uproariously.

"We told you not to try to see through any more jokes till your leg gets
well, Slim," Andy reminded condescendingly.

"Say, by golly, that's a good one on Dunk, ain't it? Chasin' himself
clean outa the country, by golly--scared plumb to death---and you
fellers was only jest makin' b'lieve yuh knowed him! By golly, that sure
is a good one, all right!"

"You've got it; give you time enough and you could see through a
barbed-wire fence," patronized Andy, from the hammock. "Yes, since you
mention it, I think myself it ain't so bad."

"Aw-w shut up, out there, an' let a feller sleep!" came a querulous
voice from within. "I'd ruther bed down with a corral full uh calves at
weanin' time, than be anywheres within ten mile uh you darned, mouthy--"
The rest was indistinguishable, but it did not matter. The Happy Family,
save Slim, who stayed to look after the patient, tiptoed penitently
off the porch and took themselves and their enthusiasm down to the
bunk-house.

CHAPTER XVII. Good News

Pink rolled over in his bed so that he might look--however
sleepily--upon his fellows, dressing more or less quietly in the cool
dawn-hour.

"Say, I got a letter for you, Weary," he yawned, stretching both arms
above his head. "I opened it and read it; it was from Chip, so--"

"What did he have to say?"

"Old Man any better?"

"How they comm', back here?"

Several voices, speaking at once, necessitated a delayed reply.

"They'll be here, to-day or to-morrow," Pink replied without any
circumlocution whatever, while he fumbled in his coat pocket for the
letter. "He says the Old Man wants to come, and the doctors think he
might as well tackle it as stay there fussing over it. They're coming in
a special car, and we've got to rig up an outfit to meet him. The Little
Do