"I reckon so," answered Johnny. "If they ain't tell Dailey to give you a spool an' charge it to me."
"Not bein' in on this personal I'll pervide a spool," offered the foreman. "I'd like to see this crew at work over there—a man allus works harder for somebody as a favor than he does for th' man that pays him. It would give me a line on how hard I could crowd you fellers. Wood, if you throw about three half-hitches over them posts before you staple 'em, you'll bother anybody that tries to unwind it from a hoss. Try it, an' see."
"Yo're talkin' gospel," said Wood, grinning. "It'll just wind up th' other way, an' before he knows what he's doin' he'll have one plumb, fine job on his hands."
"I'll give two bits, purty near," chuckled the foreman, "to see some faces in this country when th' news gets out about this here high-speed round-up. But I don't reckon there'll be no trouble about it. I'm sayin', however, if you'll listen to me, don't nobody start none. Yo're job is takin' care of SV cows, an' not gun-fightin', 'though I know there ain't no danger of anybody chasin' you off th' range."
"There won't be no trouble, Lin," assured Cimarron, "not if I has to shoot up th' whole blasted country. An' I'm aimin' to have some of them Triangle riders join hands with us: we're roundin' up wide an' regardless, an' it stands to reason that we'll have to cross their boundary line. But we'll be polite an' fair; we'll tell 'em three times, smiling. After that it'll be their own, bullheaded fault."
"There's one man on th' Triangle I hope is hard of hearin'," chuckled Tom Wilkes; "that's Gurley. Can I ask him, Cimarron?"
"You'll stay right here," replied the segundo. "We'll have trouble enough, mebby, takin' things as they come, without luggin' along no canned grudges."
"You watch me stay here!" retorted Wilkes.
"I'll do that very thing," chuckled the foreman. "Yo're goin' to show Nelson over our west range tomorrow night, an' cover more ground out there on account of there bein' fewer of you. Nelson," he said, turning, "have you any choice of men for this here party that's goin' to celebrate their freedom over in Gunsight?"