' be no Jiujitsu sharp" (with a meaning glance at Pink)
"and I know the chances I'm takin' when I stand up agin the bunch--but
I'm ready, here and now, t' fight any damn man that says I'm a liar, er
that Weary was jest throwin' a load into me. Two or three uh yuh have
licked me mor'n once--but that's all right. I'm willing t' back up
anything I've said, and yuh can wade right in a soon as you're a mind
to.

"I don't back down a darn inch. Weary's in Dry Lake. He _is_ drunk.
And he _is_ shootin' up the town. If yuh don't want t' believe it, I
guess they's no law t' make yuh--but if yuh got any sense, and are any
friends uh Weary's, yuh'll mosey in and fetch him out here if yuh have
t' bring him the way he brung ole Dock that time Patsy took cramps. Go
on in and see fer yourselves, darn yuh! But don't go shootin' off your
faces to me till yuh got a license to."

This, if unassuring, was convincing. The Happy Family stopped smiling,
and looked at one another uncertainly.

"I guess two or three of you better ride in and see what there is to
it," announced Chip, dryly. "If Happy is romancing--" His look was
eloquent.

But Happy Jack, though he stood a good deal in awe of Chip and his
sarcasm, never flinched. He looked him straight in the eye and
maintained the calm of conscious innocence.

"I'll go," said Pink, getting up and throwing his plate and cup into
the dishpan. "Mind yuh, I don't believe a word of it; Happy, if this
is just a sell, so help me Josephine, you'll learn some brand new
Jiujitsu right away quick."

"I'll go along too," Happy boldly retorted, "so if yuh want anything uh
_me_, after you've saw Weary, yuh won't need t' wait till yuh strike
camp t' git it. Weary loadin' me, was he? Yuh'll find out, all uh
yuh, that it's _him_ that's loaded."

They caught fresh horses and started--Cal, Pink, Jack Bates and Happy
Jack. And Happy stood their jeers throughout the ten-mile ride with an
equanimity that was new to them. For the most part he rode in silence,
and grinned knowingly when they laughed too loudly at the joke Weary
was playing.

"All right--maybe he is," he flung back, once. "But he sure looks the
part well enough t' keep all Dry Lake indoors--and I never knowed Weary
t' terrorize a hull town before. And where'd he git that horse? and
where's Glory at? and why ain't he comin' on t' camp t' help you chumps
giggle? Ain't he had plenty uh time t' foller me out and enjoy his
littl