"Well, they be. We better not run up against them to-day if we don't want trouble."
"Well, I ain't goin' to dodge 'em," said Bill; "I ain't in that business; if they want fight, we'll accommodate 'em with the best we've got in the shop."
At noon, Harkey's gang went to dinner a little earlier, and, as they came down the path quite near, Jim said with a sneer:—
"You managed to git the easiest half of the fence, didn't yeh?"
"We took the half that belongs to us," said Bill. "We don't take what don't belong to us."
"Cow-bells, for instance," put in Bill's hired hand, with a provoking intonation.
Jim stopped and his face twisted with rage; Ike paused a little farther on down the path. Jim came closer.
"Say, I know what you're driving at and you're a liar, and for a leather cent I'd lick you like hell!"
"You can't do it. You don't weigh enough."
"Oh, shut up, Jack," called Bill. "Go about y'r business," he said to Jim, "or I'll take a hand."