bout any spotted hide over by
Squaw Butte," he invited the Douglas stiffly. "He's practically a
stranger to the outfit--been here about a month. Maybe his word'll be
worth something to yuh--I dunno. You can ask him."

Douglas rode over to Cheyenne and said what he had to say. Tom
meanwhile held the herd and meditated on the petty injustices of
life--perhaps--and wished that a real he-man had come at him the way
Douglas had come. It irked Tom much to be compelled to meet hard words
with tolerant derision. Toleration was not much of a factor in his
life. But since he must be tolerant, he swung his horse to meet the
Douglas when the brief conversation with Cheyenne was over. The
Douglas head was shaking slowly, owning disappointment.

"Well, yuh might as well make the rounds, Scotty. Go on and ask all
the boys. If I asked 'em myself you might think it was a frame-up. And
when you've made the rounds, take a look through the herd. The chances
are that you'll find your spotty yearlin' walking around with her hide
on her. And when you're plumb through, you make tracks away from my
outfit. My patience is strainin' the buttons right now, looking at
your ugly mug. And lemme tell yuh--and you mark it down in your little
red book so yuh won't forget it--after you've peddled your woes to the
hull outfit, you bring in that hide and some proof, or you get down on
them marrow bones and apologize! I'm plumb tired of the way you act."

Aleck Douglas scowled, opened his hard lips to make a bitter answer
and reconsidered. He went off instead to interview the men, perhaps
thinking that adroit questioning might reveal a weak point somewhere
in their denial.

Tom rode over to Cheyenne. "Scotty's got his war clothes on," he
observed carelessly.

"Shore has," Cheyenne grinned. "But that's all right. He didn't make
nothin' off me. I never give him any satisfaction at all."

Tom's brows pulled together. "Well, now, if you know anything about
any hide with the brand cut out, you'd better come through,
Cheyenne."

"I never said I knowed anything about it. I guess mebby that's why I
couldn't give him no satisfaction." Cheyenne still grinned, but he
did not meet Tom's eyes.

"You spoke kinda queer for a man who don't know nothing, Cheyenne. Did
yuh think mebby it wasn't all NL beef you been eating?"

"Why, no. I never meant anything like that at all. I only said--"

"Straight talk don't need no explainin', Cheyenne. The Devil's Tooth
out