pick out o' the lot on 'em."

"Really?" said John.

"Yes, sir," said David. "Some folks is gaited that way. Amusin', ain't
it?--Hullo, Dick! Wa'al?"

"Willis'll give two hunderd fer the sorr'l colt," said the incomer, whom
John recognized as one of the loungers in the Eagle bar the night of his
arrival.

"E-um'm!" said David. "Was he speakin' of any pertic'ler colt, or sorril
colts in gen'ral? I hain't got the only one the' is, I s'pose."

Dick merely laughed. "Because," continued the owner of the "sorril
colt," "if Steve Willis wants to lay in sorril colts at two hunderd a
piece, I ain't goin' to gainsay him, but you tell him that
two-forty-nine ninety-nine won't buy the one in my barn." Dick laughed
again.

John made a move in the direction of the front room.

"Hold on a minute," said David. "Shake hands with Mr. Larrabee."

"Seen ye before," said Dick, as they shook hands. "I was in the barroom
when you come in the other night," and then he laughed as at the
recollection of something very amusing.

John flushed a little and said, a bit stiffly, "I remember you were kind
enough to help about my luggage."

"Excuse me," said Dick, conscious of the other's manner. "I wa'n't
laughin' at you, that is, not in pertic'ler. I couldn't see your face
when Ame offered ye pie an' doughnuts instid of beefsteak an' fixins. I
c'd only guess at that; but Ame's face was enough fer me," and Dick
went off into another cachinnation.

David's face indicated some annoyance. "Oh, shet up," he exclaimed.
"You'd keep that yawp o' your'n goin', I believe, if it was the judgment
day."

"Wa'al," said Dick with a grin, "I expect the' might be some fun to be
got out o' _that_, if a feller wa'n't worryin' too much about his own
skin; an' as fur's I'm concerned----" Dick's further views on the
subject of that momentous occasion were left unexplained. A significant
look in David's face caused the speaker to break off and turn toward the
door, through which came two men, the foremost a hulking, shambling
fellow, with an expression of repellent sullenness. He came forward to
within about ten feet of David's desk, while his companion halted near
the door. David eyed him in silence.

"I got this here notice this mornin'," said the man, "sayin' 't my note
'd be due to-morrer, an' 'd have to be paid."

"Wa'al," said David, with his arm over the back of his chair and his
left hand resting on his desk, "that's so, ain't it?"

"Mebbe so," w