"Curious; I seem to know him. Can't think where I have seen him; somewhere out West."
"I bought him at M'Kinney," Hugh said.
"Oh! You bought him, did you?"
"How do you suppose I got him?" Hugh asked shortly.
"Oh! there are plenty of horses out on these plains as never was paid for," Flash Bill said.
"I don't say there are not," Hugh replied. "At any rate, I expect you are a better authority about that than I am."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean exactly what I say," Hugh said quietly.
"Do you mean to say as I have been a horse-thief!" the man exclaimed furiously.
"I mean to say exactly what I did say," Hugh replied.