igned. Striding
to where Buck stood, he placed his hands on his hips and searched the
foreman's eyes.

Buck smiled: "Yu ain't mad, are yu?" He asked.

Hopalong relaxed: "No, but blame near it."

Red and the others grabbed him from the rear, and when he had been
"buffaloed" into good humor he threw them from him, laughed and waved
his hand toward the bar:

"Come up, yu sons-of-guns. Yore a cussed nuisance sometimes, but yore a
bully gang all th' same."

CHAPTER XXV. Mr. Ewalt Draws Cards

Tex Ewalt, cow-puncher, prospector, sometimes a rustler, but always a
dude, rode from El Paso in deep disgust at his steady losses at faro
and monte. The pecuniary side of these caused him no worry, for he was
flush. This pleasing opulence was due to his business ability, for
he had recently sold a claim for several thousand dollars. The first
operation was simple, being known in Western phraseology as "jumping";
and the second, somewhat more complicated, was known as "salting."

The first of the money spent went for a complete new outfit, and he had
parted with just three hundred and seventy dollars to feed his vanity.
He desired something contrasty and he procured it. His sombrero, of gray
felt a quarter of an inch thick, flaunted a band of black leather, on
which was conspicuously displayed a solid silver buckle. His neck was
protected by a crimson kerchief of the finest, heaviest silk. His shirt,
in pattern the same as those commonly worn in the cow country, was of
buckskin, soft as a baby's cheek and impervious to water, and the Angora
goatskin chaps, with the long silken hair worn outside, were as white
as snow. Around his waist ran loosely a broad, black leather belt
supporting a heavy black holster, in which lay its walnut-handled
burden, a .44 caliber six-shooter; and thirty center-fire cartridges
peeked from their loops, fifteen on a side. His boots, the soles thin
and narrow and the heels high, were black and of the finest leather.
Huge spurs, having two-inch rowels, were held in place by buckskin
straps, on which, also, were silver buckles. Protecting his hands were
heavy buckskin gloves, also waterproof, having wide, black gauntlets.

Each dainty hock of his dainty eight-hundred-pound buckskin pony was
black, and a black star graced its forehead. Well groomed, with
flowing mane and tail, and with the brand on its flank being almost
imperceptible, the animal was far different in appearance from most of
the co