"Goin' back thar on Misery?"
Again, Tamarack answered with a jerk of his head.
"I've been layin' off ter tell ye somethin', Tam'rack."
"Cut her loose."
"I laid over in Hixon last week, an' some fellers that used ter know my mother's folks took me down in the cellar of Hollman's store, an' give me some licker."
"What of hit?"
"They was talkin' 'bout you."
"What did they say?"
"I seen that they was enemies of yours, an' they wasn't in no good humor, so, when they axed me ef I knowed ye, I 'lowed I didn't know nothin' good about ye. I had ter cuss ye out, or git in trouble myself."
Tamarack cursed the whole Hollman tribe, and his companion went on: