Big-foot fixed him with a baneful eye.
"I said I'd forget you were the cook some day," said he. "I'm forgetting it, now, faster'n a broncho can run!"
Pong's pigtail bobbed up and down like the streaming neckkerchief of a cowboy in saddle as he dived for the protection of the trail wagon.
"I reckon he can understand king's English when he wants to," laughed Shorty. "Now how about that spook, Big-foot?"
Sanders stood up, hitched his trousers and tightened his belt a notch.
"Reckon we've all gone plumb daffy, fellows. I'm the champeen dummy of the bunch."
The cowpunchers laughed heartily.
"But was she a spook?" persisted Shorty.
"She were not. She were a woman—a friend of the boss."
Shorty whistled.