"You bet yer!" cried Jake, from the store. "He'd play his hand for all there was in it, anyhow. Come to drink with him, it's just as well to keep the handle of the jug your side."
"He's another of them I-talians, ain't he?" inquired old Murray, with a wink.
"That's what he is, sure! By the way, Colonel, did you see Sam around Deming?"
"Sam?—Sam Rider? Isn't he in the valley?"
"Not much! Sam got two months' wages ahead, so he cracked his whip, and went off on a bend."
"To blow in?"[13]
Jake laughed assent.
"I seen him," chimed in the teamster.
"Where?"