mmingled comprehension and relief, and sat
down at the table. By the time the expected knock came at the door,
Smoke was facing him across the table, and, before each, was a plate
containing three hot, fried eggs.

"Come in!" Smoke called.

Wild Water Charley, a strapping young giant just a fraction of an inch
under six feet in height and carrying a clean weight of one hundred and
ninety pounds, entered and shook hands.

"Set down an' have a bite, Wild Water," Shorty invited. "Smoke, fry him
some eggs. I'll bet he ain't scoffed an egg in a coon's age."

Smoke broke three more eggs into the hot pan, and in several minutes
placed them before his guest, who looked at them with so strange and
strained an expression that Shorty confessed afterward his fear that
Wild Water would slip them into his pocket and carry them away.

"Say, them swells down in the States ain't got nothin' over us in the
matter of eats," Shorty gloated. "Here's you an' me an' Smoke gettin'
outside ninety dollars' worth of eggs an' not battin' an eye."

Wild Water stared at the rapidly disappearing eggs and seemed petrified.

"Pitch in an' eat," Smoke encouraged.

"They--they ain't worth no ten dollars," Wild Water said slowly.

Shorty accepted the challenge. "A thing's worth what you can get for it,
ain't it?" he demanded.

"Yes, but--"

"But nothin'. I'm tellin' you what we can get for 'em. Ten a throw, just
like that. We're the egg trust, Smoke an' me, an' don't you forget it.
When we say ten a throw, ten a throw goes." He mopped his plate with
a biscuit. "I could almost eat a couple more," he sighed, then helped
himself to the beans.

"You can't eat eggs like that," Wild Water objected. "It--it ain't
right."

"We just dote on eggs, Smoke an' me," was Shorty's excuse.

Wild Water finished his own plate in a half-hearted way and gazed
dubiously at the two comrades. "Say, you fellows can do me a great
favor," he began tentatively. "Sell me, or lend me, or give me, about a
dozen of them eggs."

"Sure," Smoke answered. "I know what a yearning for eggs is myself. But
we're not so poor that we have to sell our hospitality. They'll cost you
nothing--" Here a sharp kick under the table admonished him that Shorty
was getting nervous. "A dozen, did you say, Wild Water?"

Wild Water nodded.

"Go ahead, Shorty," Smoke went on. "Cook them up for him. I can
sympathize. I've seen the time myself when I could eat a dozen, straight
off the bat."