yhow? Ain't one enough?"

"Look a-here!" cried Curley, pushing forward. "Was that th' d----d
Orphant? Come on, now, talk straight!"

"Orphant!" ejaculated Bill in surprise. "Did you say Orphant? Orphant
nothing!" he responded. "What in h--l do you think I'd be lying about
him for? Do I look easy? He ain't no friend of mine! Besides, I wouldn't
know him if I saw him, never having seen that frisky gent. Holy gee! is
the Orphant loose in this country, out here along my route!" he cried,
simulating alarm.

"Well, we'll take a chance anyhow," interposed Jack Kelly. "I can tell
when a fool lies. If it _is_ yore friend Tom Davis we won't hurt him none."

"Honest, you won't hurt him?" asked Bill, grinning broadly. "No, I reckon
_you_ won't, all right," he added, for the sheriff was close at hand
now and was coming up at a walk, and Bill had an abiding faith in that
official. He could be a trifle reckless how he talked now. He laughed
sarcastically and hooked his thumbs in the armholes of his vest. "Nope,
I reckon _you_ won't hurt him, not a little bit. Not if he knows you're
going to try it on him. And if it should be Mister Orphant, well, I hear
that he's dead sore on being hunted--don't like it for a d----n. I also
hear he drinks blood instead of water and whips five men before breakfast
every morning to get up an appetite. Oh, no, and you won't hurt him
neither, will you?"

"Yore real pert, now _ain't_ yu?" shouted Curley angrily. "Yore a whole
lot sassy an' smart, _ain't_ yu? But if we find that he is that Orphant,
we'll pay yu a visit so yu can explain just why yore so d----d friendly
with him. He seems to have a whole lot of friends about this country, he
does! Even the sheriff won't hurt him. Even th' brave sheriff loses his
trail. Must be somethin' in it for somebody, eh?"

"You'd better tell that to somebody else, the sheriff, for instance. He'd
like to think it over," responded Bill easily. "It's a good chance to
see a little branding, a la Colt, as the French say. Tell it to him, why
don't you?"

"I'm a-tellin' it to yu, _now_, an' I'll tell it to Shields when I sees
him, yu overgrown baby, yu!" shouted Curley, his hand dropping to his
Colt. "Everybody knows it! Everybody is a-talkin' about it! An' we'll
have a new sheriff, too, before long! An' as for yu, if we wasn't in such
a hurry, we'd give yu a lesson yu'd never forget! That d----d Orphant
has got a pull, but we're goin' to give him a push, an' plumb int