“Fortunately for you, Reade, Pete didn’t intend to hit you. If he had meant to do so, he’d have done it. I’ve seen him shoot all the spots out of a ten of clubs. Don’t provoke the fellow, Reade, or he’ll shoot you full of fancy holes. Of course it showed both grit and coolness on your part in keeping steadily on with your work all the time the fellow was firing at you. Still, it was unwise to expose yourself needlessly to danger.”
“I didn’t consider Bad Pete particularly dangerous,” Tom rejoined.
“A lawless man with a loaded revolver is hardly a safe person to trifle with,” retorted Mr. Thurston dryly.
“I see that I shall have to make a confession,” smiled Tom. “It was this way, sir. When Hazelton and I were on our way west Harry insisted that we were coming into a dangerous country and that we’d need firearms. So Harry bought two forty-five six-shooters and several boxes of cartridges, too. I was provoked when I heard about it, for we hadn’t any too much money, and Harry had bought the revolvers out of our joint treasury.”
“I felt sure we’d need the pistols,” interrupted Hazelton. “Today’s affair shows that I was right. Tom, you’ll have to carry one of the revolvers after this.”
“I’m no gun-packer,” retorted Tom scornfully. “Young men have no business carting firearms about unless they’re hunting or going to war. Any fellow who carries a pistol as he would a lead pencil is either a coward or a lunatic.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that, Reade,” nodded Mr. Thurston approvingly. “Two of my staff carry pistols, but they do so under my orders. In the first place they’re grown men, not boys. In the second place, they’re working over a stretch of ground where rattlesnakes are thick. Your coolness today served you better than a pistol would have done. If you had had a revolver, and had drawn it, Pete would have drilled you through the head.”
“Drilled me through the head—-with what?” asked Tom, smiling.
“With a bullet, of course, young man,” retorted Mr. Thurston.
“I don’t believe he would have gone as far as that,” laughed Tom. “You see, sir, it was like this: When I found Harry so set on carrying a pistol, I went down deep in my own pocket and bought two boxes of blank cartridges to fit the forty-fives. I thought if Harry were going to do some shooting, it would be the part of friendship to fix him so that he could do it in safety to himself and others.”