"Yes."
"Is he here?"
"I don't know. Mebbe ye kin tell when ye hear, fer it's Bill Pritchen."
When Pete entered the saloon, Pritchen was sitting at a small table dealing a pack of cards. Looking suddenly up, and noticing the prospector, his face became pale, and his hand shook. He made up his mind to leave the room at the first opportunity and not run the risk of meeting the old man. Anyway, his back was to the bar, so he would not be recognized. As Pete talked on he felt somewhat relieved. But when the story of darkness began to be unrolled a great fear seized his cowardly heart. He did not dare to leave the place, for if his name were mentioned he must be on hand to defend himself before the miners became too much excited. During the recital a burning rage possessed him, and he longed to drop the prospector in his tracks. He saw the trap which he had laid for another about to close upon himself with a deadly grip, and all owing to this one old man. When, however, Pete mentioned his name, he leaped to his feet with a terrible oath.
"You lie!" he shouted. "It's an infernal lie, I tell you, and you'll answer for this!"
Pete swung suddenly around, and looked full upon the irate man before him.
"So yer the gintleman, are ye? I'm rale glad to make yer acquaintance. Mebbe ye kin explain matters, an' unravel this tangle a bit."
"There's nothing to explain, d— you! I was out walking last night and met Miss Radhurst on the trail. Just as I was about to pass her a brute of a dog fell suddenly upon me, and tore my clothes, while the young woman fell to the ground in a dead faint."
"Oh, that's the way ye put it, is it? An' so ye left the young lassie a-lyin' thar on the snow, while ye took to yer heels with the dog after ye. Didn't ye stop to think that there might be other dogs around what would hurt the woman? Oh, no, ye never thought of that. Ye may tell what ye like, but that lassie up yon has another story, which I jist told."
"It's a lie, I tell you; a job put up against me! and you, you confounded meddler, will answer for this!"