“Seems like it,” declared the one addressed, who was scratching his head in a puzzled way; “but do
you know, it’s hard to believe that any sort of woman could get the whip-hand over my Uncle Fred. Why, there never was a more fiery and determined character. He ran things with an iron hand, even that puncher admitted as much. How he could be brought under a woman’s thumb is more’n I can understand.”
“Oh!” spoke up Donald, sagaciously, “you don’t know how some women can manage. And from the way that fellow mentioned Mrs. Fred I reckon now that she’s that big she can just fling her hubby around like a cat, when she’s riled up. Two black eyes is going some, and for a whole month too! Looks like you might be getting a little closer to an explanation of the queer things that have been going on up here on your Bar-S Ranch, Chum Adrian.”
“Yes, it looks like it,” agreed the other; “but I’ll never believe Uncle Fred is ruled by a petticoat till I see it with my own eyes. He’s a small man, but a masterful fighter. I can remember him flinging a fellow twice his heft in a wrestling match; for Uncle Fred has been in Japan, and learned the ju jitsu way of doing an antagonist up.”
“Mebbe he has,” remarked Billie, who was taking pains to search his pack for the bottle of witch-hazel, meaning to get to work easing the pain of the lame back Jupiter had; “but seems like it don’t work with a female scrapper; or else your unk is too gallant a gentleman to apply such strong tactics
against the wife of his bosom, so he lets her get the best of every scrimmage, till his spirit is broken—leastwise that was what our cowboy friend seemed to imply just now.”
“It’s something to think about, anyhow,” observed Donald; “and for one I’m right glad we ran across those punchers. And we know about the Walkers, too. Fine bunch to have around, ain’t they, now? And Mrs. Fred, he took pains to tell us, was one of the Walkers before she got married! There’s a nigger in this woodpile somewhere, Adrian, and looks like it might be up to us to find out just where.”
“We will, before we head back South again, depend on that,” said Adrian, with the set look about his mouth that his chums knew so well, and which spoke of a grim determination before which every obstacle must give way.
They now set about making themselves as comfortable as possible, meaning to camp there in among those few trees for the night, which was only a couple of hours distant. As this was a very old story with both Adrian and Donald, and even Billie now came to look upon it as a lesson well learned, they knew just how to go about it in order to get the best results.
The ponies were staked out, not that it was expected that any one of the well-trained animals would stray far away while cropping the grass; but