nd I'm the man that knows it, too. Lord!--but I'm as dry as if I had
been eating salt fish for a week."

"And you can have a nice, big drink of fresh water at the trough
outside whenever you are ready."

"Water, Phil! Have a heart!"

"Sure thing! Good fresh water!"

"'Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink,'" he quoted.

And sitting up, there among the hay, a strangely assorted pair they
seemed as they conversed familiarly.

"Well,--I fancy I've had about enough this trip."

"You certainly have!"

"Ay, Phil,--but think of that big shrimp knocking us soft."

"_Us_, did you say?" put in Phil. "Then it is true, after all?"

"What?"

"That he finished you off after he put me to sleep!"

Langford tried to spit in disgust, but despite the greatness of his
disgust his mouth and salivic glands refused to function.

"Oh, man!--it makes me sick. The big, long-legged, red-haired devil
has been learning to box on the quiet. And to think that he had that
up his sleeve, and was just waiting for us!"

"Tell me what happened after I got mine, Jim. I haven't heard it right
yet."

"Everything happened. I went out and picked you up. I got some of the
boys to take you home after I knew that you weren't really booked for
'The Better Land.' Then I went back to lick the stuffing out of Rob
Roy. He was in there, grinning and throwing out his chest like a
pouter pigeon."

"'You want the same dose?' he asked.

"'That's what I came for,' said I. And, Phil, between you and me,
that's just about what I got.

"We fought in the bar-room for three-quarters of an hour. I never hit
him worth a rap, for he had a defence like the Rock o' Gibraltar. He
didn't hit me very often, either, but when he did,--Oh, Lord! Well, to
make a short story for a thirsty man, we had to quit, both of us, from
sheer exhaustion. When we could hardly stand, the Mayor came in and
separated us. He sent McGregor and his gang slap-bang home to Redmans.
And after that--well, they filled me up to the neck. Oh, I was quite
ready to be filled, Phil, for my pride was sorely humbled. And--I've
been filled up to the neck ever since.

"What day is it, Phil?"

"Wednesday!"

"This week, last week or next week?"

"This week!"

"Is that all? And it happened only last Saturday. Man!" he cried,
springing up, "if that's the case, I've only started."

"You have finished," said Phil decidedly, "finished good and plenty,
now and for all."

"But man,--th