ss Dianny. She come, an' we
did our best. But arter a month he got up plump crazed an' silly-like.
He died back ther' in Forks soon after." Arizona paused significantly.
Then he went on. "No, sir, ther' ain't bin a feller put in that bunk
sense, fer they ain't never gotten pore Dave's blood off'n it. Say,
ther' ain't a deal as 'ud scare us fellers, but we ain't sleepin' over
a crazy man's blood."

"Which, apparently, I've got to do," Tresler said sharply. Then he
asked, "Is it the only spare bunk?"

"No. Ther's Thompson's, an' ther's Massy's."

"Then what's the object?"

"Cussedness. It's a kind o' delicate attention. It's fer to git back
on you, knowin' as us fellers 'ud sure tell you of Dave. It's to kind
o' hint to you what happens to them as runs foul o' him. What's like
to happen to you."

Arizona's fists clenched, and his teeth gritted with rage as he
deduced his facts. Tresler remained calm, but it did him good to
listen to the hot-headed cowpuncher, and he warmed toward him.

"I'm afraid I must disappoint him," he said, when the other had
finished. "If you fellows will lend me some blankets, I'll sleep in
Massy's or Thompson's bunk, and Mr. Jake can go hang."

Arizona shot round and peered into Tresler's face. "An' you'll do
that--sure?"

"Certainly. I'm not going to sleep in a filthy bunk."

"Say, you're the most cur'usest 'tenderfoot' I've seen. Shake!"

And again the two men gripped hands.

That first evening around the bunkhouse Tresler learned a lot about
his new home, and, incidentally, the most artistic manner of cursing
the flies. He had supper with the boys, and his food was hash and tea
and dry bread. It was hard but wholesome, and there was plenty of it.
His new comrades exercised their yarning propensities for him, around
him, at him. He listened to their chaff, boisterous, uncultured;
their savage throes of passion and easy comradeships. They seemed to
have never a care in the world but the annoyances of the moment. Even
their hatred for the foreman and their employer seemed to lift from
them, and vanish with the sound of the curses which they heaped upon
them. It was a new life, a new world to him; and a life that appealed
to him.

As the sun sank and the twilight waned, the men gradually slipped away
to turn in. Arizona was the last to go. Tresler had been shown Massy's
bunk, and friendly hands had spread blankets upon it for him. He was
standing at the foot of it in the long aisle