back. I confided to him a lot o' my own mishaps, an' he got purty near
up to the mourner's bench, when all of a sudden he gets bitter. "You're
just like all the rest," sez he, "you make all kinds of allowance for a
good lookin', proud sort, like Silver Dick; but a feller like me--you
allus give the verdict again a feller like me, an' you know it."

"Dick ain't been no saint, I know," sez I; "but at least he was out in
the open, while I can't quite get over that knee-gun you wore."

"Out in the open, was he?" sez Piker, with a leer. "Didn't he get to
your ranch an' try to land the daughter o' the boss--an' him a married
man all the time!"

I reached across the table an' got him by the collar, jerked him to me,
an' flopped him face up across the table. "You lie," sez I. He shook
his head, an' I felt a cold streak hit my heart.

I loosened up on him an' let him set up, an' he said 'at Silver Dick
was married to the woman at Laramie, an' he knew it. I tried to bluff
him out of it, but he stuck to it, finally sayin' that I had him, an'
could finish him if I wanted to; but that it was the God's truth, an'
he'd stick to it.

As I looked into his eyes I knew beyond a doubt that he was dealin'
straight; an' as my plans toppled over an' came tumblin' about me, I
felt like walkin' down to the dock an' endin' it all. Put this passed
in a flash; it wasn't my turn yet to think of myself. There was little
Barbie with the two serpents creepin' toward her, an' my place was at
her side till the fight was fairly won.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

THE DAY OF THE WEDDING

I had struck the Diamond Dot in a tol'able wide variety o' moods; but I
never felt like I did the mornin' I came back to ditch Barbie's
weddin'. I knew 'at the chances were 'at I'd break her heart; but I had
only one course open, an' I didn't intend to waver. I had gone on
through to Laramie, an' had found 'at Silver Dick's wife was still
there, livin' her locked-in life. Then I came on back through Danders
to Webb Station where I hired a feller to drive me to within a mile o'
the ranch house. All he knew was that the weddin' was to come off in
three weeks.

Jabez an' Barbie was both glad to see me; but I didn't make much
explanation for leavin' without notice, an' I didn't tell all about my
trip. Just told 'em about my experience as a knight an' on the boat an'
such. Barbie was purty thin an' a little under color; but her grit was
still keyed up to full tone