“I’m going to have a look,” the boy said quickly. “Be back soon.” He jumped to the ground.
Teddy and Bug Eye watched him go.
“He’ll go an’ do the very same thing to Star that Jules Kolto just did,” Bug Eye said musingly. “Sure loves that bronc. Well, Teddy?”
“You want the story?” Teddy answered, grinning. “It isn’t very long. Roy and I were coming in from capturing the pony that Nell got spilled from. As we were passing those woods, we heard a yell. Then a shot. Then we found him. The rest you know.” He said nothing about his rescue of Roy, believing, and rightly, that Bug Eye was too excited over the wounded man to make any inquiries.
“Say, you think he’s gonna cash in?” the puncher demanded.
Teddy shook his head.
“Can’t say. I sure hope not. But he’s got a mighty bad wound—right through the neck. How the bullet missed the jugular vein I don’t see. He sure had Providence looking after him.”
“Old guy, ain’t he? Looks like a miner. Think he’s any relation to Pop Burns?”
“Oh, you noticed it too, did you? He certainly looks enough like him to be his brother. Wonder what his name is?”
“Maybe we’ll never know that.” Bug Eye kicked somberly at a lower rail. “It’ll be bad business if he cashes in his checks.”