e, youse?" Purdy had caught sight of Tex who
stood between the Bear Paw Pool man and Bat Lajune. "I'm bettin' agin'
yeh winnin' the buckin' contest, but I'll buy yeh a drink."

Tex grinned as his eyes travelled with slow insolence over the other's
outfit.

"You're sure got up some colourful, Jack," he drawled. "If you sh'd
happen to crawl up into the middle of one of them real outlaws they got
down in the corral, an' quit him on the top end of a high one, you're
a-goin' to look like a rainbow before you git back."

The other scowled: "I guess if I tie onto one of them outlaws yeh'll
see me climb off 'bout the time the money's ready. Yeh Texas fellers
comes up here an' makes yer brag about showin' us Montana boys how to
ride our own horses. But it's real money talks! I don't notice you
backin' up yer brag with no real _dinero_."

Tex was still smiling. "That's because I ain't found anyone damn fool
enough to bet agin' me."

"Didn't I jest tell yeh I was bettin' agin' you?"

"Don't bet enough to hurt you none. How much you got, three dollars?
An' how much odds you got to get before you'll risk 'em?"

Purdy reached for his hip pocket. "Jest to show yeh what I think of
yer ridin' I'll bet yeh even yeh don't win."

"Well," drawled the Texan, "seein' as they won't be only about ten
fellows ride, that makes the odds somewhere around ten to one, which is
about right. How much you want to bet?"

With his fingers clutching his roll of bills, Purdy's eyes sought the
face of Cinnabar Joe. For an instant he hesitated and then slammed the
roll onto the bar.

"She goes as she lays. Count it!"

The bartender picked up the money and ran it through. "Eighty-five,"
he announced, laconically.

"That's more'n I got on me," said Tex ruefully, as he smoothed out
three or four crumpled bills and capped the pile with a gold piece.

Purdy sneered: "It's money talks," he repeated truculently. "'Tain't
hardly worth while foolin' with no piker bets but if that's the best
yeh c'n do I'll drag down to it." He reached for his roll.

"Hold on!" The Texan was still smiling but there was a hard note in his
voice. "She goes as she lays." He turned to the half-breed who stood
close at his elbow.

"Bat. D'you recollect one night back in Las Vegas them four bits I
loant you? Well, just you shell out about forty dollars interest on
them four bits an' we'll call it square for a while." The half-breed
smiled broadly and ha