wer me one question--who told you that Dick was here?"

"Bill Andrews," he sez; an' I opened the door an' kicked him through
it: but in a minute back he comes, cringin' like a cur. "Don't send me
away until after I see what direction Silver takes," he whimpered. "He
never forgives; He'll kill me if he sees me; let me stay until after he
starts."

I laughed. "Why, you fool you," I sez, "if he SHOULD happen to ruin you
beyond repair you don't imagine any one would put on mournin' do ya?
But if it's goin' to make your mind any easier I stand ready to give
you a written guarantee 'at he won't use any knee-gun to do it with.
Now you get; I'm strainin' myself to keep from spoilin' you on my own
hook."

I was in an advanced state of bein' exasperated, an' I walked up to him
intendin' to brand him a few with the butt of his own gun, when Barbie
spoke low an' cold, but in a voice fairly jagged with scorn: "Let the
creature alone; I don't want Dick to soil his boots." Barbie's voice
had lost its college finish, an' she was in the mood to do a little
shootin' herself just then.

Dick finished his packin' in short order, an' went out an' saddled his
pony an' rode away toward Danders an' Laramie. We all set like
corpse-watchers for half an hour longer, an' then Jabez straightened up
an' sez to Piker; "Take your money out o' that pot an' never get caught
in this neighborhood again. Your partner started toward Laramie; when
you see him tell him I'll send the full amount o' the pot to him as
soon as he sends me his address. You can also tell him that I'll kill
him if he ever sets foot on this ranch again."

Barbie was standin' at the window lookin' out into the moonlight which
had swallered up the best part of her world. When Jabez finished
speakin' she turned around an' looked at Piker. "I can't figger out
just whose dog-robber yon are," she sez; "but next time you go gunnin'
for Silver Dick--you better take the whole gang with you."

It fair hurt me to see Barbie's face, so hard it was an' so different
from the real Barbie: but it warmed my heart to hear the way she made
that Silver Dick ring out. Oh, she was a thoroughbred every inch of
her, that girl was. Piker didn't say a word; he just picked up his coin
an' walked out o' the room, an' I raised up the window an' drew a deep
breath. The blame pole-cat had managed to slip out an' saddle his pony
about supper time, an' in a second he dashed away toward Webb Station,
mighty th