"He's getting along well enough. What made you ask?"
"Oh, nothin'. I hate to see any guy get hurt."
"I'm glad to hear you say that. I begin to think you are a bigger man than he is."
"Me?" And Collie flushed, misunderstanding the other's drift. "I guess you're kiddin'."
"No, I mean it. Mr. Tenlow still seemed pretty hot about your share in this—er—enterprise. You seem to have no hard feelings against him."
"Huh! He shouldn't to be sore at me. I didn't spur no horse onto him and ride him down like a dog. I guess Red would 'a' killed him if he'd seen it. Say, nobody got Red, did they?"
"I haven't heard of it. How did this man Red come to pick you up? You're pretty young to be tramping."
"Cross your heart you ain't tryin' to queer Red? You ain't tryin' to put the Injun sign on us, are you?"
"No. I have heard all about the Mojave affair—the prospector that died on the track—and the arrest of Overland Red at Barstow. You told my niece that this Overland Red was 'square.' How did you come to be mixed up in it?"
"I guess I'll have to tell you the whole thing, straight. Red always said that to tell the truth was just as good as lyin', because nobody would believe us, anyway. And if a fella gets caught tellin' the truth, why, he's that much to the good."