the matter with her
health an' we all wondered what was her reason; but I had my own
private opinion--she was beginnin' to find out she was a girl, an' she
wasn't quite used to it.

We finally rounded up in the big bend of Spike Crick, an' the stuff was
in the suet, every one of 'em. Omaha was supposed to be straw boss; but
he was too easy-goin' an' generally let the men do about as they
pleased. Bill Andrews, the new man, had a sneer on his face about half
the time, an' one mornin' when I came in from night ridin', he sez to a
bunch o' the boys: "I didn't suppose the parlor boarder ever risked any
night dampness."

They all grinned, 'cause the' wasn't any jokes barred with us; but I
didn't grin. I walked over to the group an' I sez: "Is the' anybody
else in this outfit that has any o' that brand o' supposin' about 'im?"

"Aw sit down, Happy," they sez; an' "What's the matter, Happy; you
gettin' tender?" an' such like things; but Bill Andrews continued to
sit an' grin, so I sez to him: "As a rule, the last comer in an outfit
has sense enough to either use his eyes or ask questions. I admit that
this is a purty easy-goin' place,--they don't even ask where a man
comes from when they take him on,--but I've been here off an' on for
some time, an' I reckon that the boss is able to figger out whether or
not I've been worth what I cost."

"Yes," sez Andrews, slow an' drawly, "the boss--or his daughter."

Three o' the boys grabbed me, but Andrews never moved; so I let go of
my gun an' sez, "It seems 'at you're the kind of a hound 'at picks out
a safe time to snarl--but the' 'll be other times."

"Any time you wish," sez he, "but I didn't mean what you seem to think.
I know well enough 'at the' 'll never be nothin' between you an'
her--the old man knows it too, an' you ain't kept here for nothin'
except to be her play-mate."

I was so blame mad I couldn't see. I couldn't speak. I was so infernal
het up that I choked an' spluttered; but when I got my hands on his
throat I put my finger-prints on his neck-bone. The boys had a hard
time tearin' us apart, an' a heap harder time startin' Andrews goin'
again; but as soon as he was able to talk, I sez to him, "Now we ain't
through with this yet. I'm willin' to give you your choice of
settlements, but you sure have to settle some way. How do you want to
settle?"

He had black blood--an' he was a coward. It's the hardest mix-up a man
ever has to deal with. He jumped to his fee