too. You're onto us, anyway, I guess, so from now on we'll fight in
the open. Did you get the sheepskin?"

Hiram reverted to his provincial drawl, as was his habit in moments of
great stress.

"No, she got plumb away from me," he said. "She got outa the whirlwind
back there somewheres, or else she's gone on with what's left o' the
twister."

"I was afraid you wasn't going to say that, Hooker," Drummond said.
"Well, let me show you something. Do you recognize this gat?"

Hiram looked uneasily at a third big six-shooter, which Drummond had
produced as he spoke.

"I reckon she was mine a while back," he said with a gulp.

"Exactly. And what you left it to hold down, Hooker, has gone up in
smoke."

"You got---- You burned----"

"Got and burned is right, Hooker. But I don't just like your tone. If
you were on the stage, Brother Hiram, I think you'd get the hook.
'Hook Hooker!' the audience might yell. Don't you think I'm funny at
times, Gentle Wild Cat? It's just my pleasant little way of informing
you that I consider you a poor actor. 'You got--you burned' was pretty
fair, Hi-ram, but not quite good enough. So we're going to search you
and make sure you didn't get the sheepskin out of the whirlwind."

"I didn't get it," Hiram said sulkily. "She's gone forever."

"She is in any event, Hooker. But we have a copy at Ragtown--don't
forget that. Now let go these reins and step over here. And be mighty
careful, Hi-ram--mighty careful. My friend here is a nervous man with
a six-gun."

Obediently Hiram dropped the mare's reins and stepped away from her
head. Drummond laid the two revolvers at some distance away from them
on the ground, so that, while he was searching Hiram, the latter would
have no opportunity to grab one from him and turn the tables.

"Keep 'em up," he ordered; and, while Pete trained his gun on Hiram,
Drummond searched his prisoner from head to foot.

"Guess you told the truth," he said. "Still, a fellow never can tell.
You're a pretty foxy guy at times. Strip, Hooker.

"I guess you did tell the truth," Drummond said a few minutes later
after a thorough search had been made. "Still I'm not through yet.
You saw us coming and had time to hide it, if you found it."

He stepped to the mare and went over her saddle, even turning the cheek
straps of the bridle inside out, and pawing through her heavy mane and
tail. He looked and felt in her ears. He held her nostrils with his