ed drawl, "you're a liar!"

For a few seconds there was not a sound as Hiram Hooker stood before
Drummond and eyed him placidly. The truck man's face had gone
chalk-white. They were big men, both of them, and for all that
Drummond's life had not been a rugged one, he was physically pretty
much a man. Jo's skinners had come running back, and, with Tweet and
Huber, looked on expectantly, sensing that a crisis between the two big
huskies was imminent. Then came the voice of Jerkline Jo.

"Hiram," she said, "don't be hasty." Jerkline Jo had seen many a fight
between big men of the outdoor life. It was no new experience, and
there was not a quaver in her tones. She had been brought up where men
settled matters with fists or guns or pick handles. "Listen, Hiram,"
she continued, "Mr. Drummond is telling the truth, I think, up to a
certain point. When you boys were way ahead of me yesterday I heard a
rumble behind me. Evidently a big boulder rolled down in the road
after we had passed. Just the same I'll thank you, Hiram, to ask Mr.
Drummond to apologize for accusing me of being responsible."

"Yes, ma'am," drawled Hiram, reverting to his old speech of the redwood
forests. "Ye heard, Mr. Drummond. We didn't roll down any stone. I'd
apologize now if I was you. That's best."

"Listen to the Gentle Wild Cat pur," said Heine Schultz, looking
abstractedly up at the clouds.

"Well, you ain't me, you gangling hick!" said Drummond. "I saw
footprints up above the rock wall that the stone fell from. It was
pushed down. There are six of you. You could roll down a rock that we
three couldn't budge. You even could hook on teams and drag it in the
road behind you. Then when you came back, if it was still there, you
could easily snake it out of your own way with these big horses."

"I reckon you're right," admitted Hiram. "But we didn't do that, so
you oughta apologize to Jo." There was a deceptively soothing note in
Hiram's tones. He seemed to be patiently pointing out the better
course for Mr. Drummond to pursue, with no suggestion of what might be
the penalty for guessing wrong.

"Well, I'll not apologize! I'm not a fool! That rock was rolled down.
It----"

"You're a liar, Mr. Drummond," repeated Hiram.

Then they came together with a thud of big bodies and a shower of
hooflike fists.

"Hi-yi!" yelled Blink Keddie. "What made our Gentle Wild Cat wild?
Come on, boys! Back up ol' Wild Cat! Eat 'im, Hi