“Clever? Why, you old rascal, nothing is clever alongside of what you did the other night—bringing in Billy Gee, single-handed! Honest, I never thought it was in you, Lem. The camp is still excited over it.”
Lemuel crossed his legs with dignity and hooked his thumbs in his armpits.
“I don’t guess there was as much to it as they think,” he said, blowing a cloud of smoke toward the ceiling. “Of course, a man was akcherly takin’ his life in his hands every minute, so to speak, but you got to c’nsider I growed up fightin’ just sech hard-boiled eggs. It’s all in knowin’ how to handle ’em.”
“Oh, certainly! Experience is a great teacher,” conceded Lennox seriously and coughed into his handkerchief to hide a grin.
Dot, attired for the street, joined them at this juncture, and Lemuel presented Lennox.
“You remember me tellin’ you about Dick Lennox, the minin’ engineer—the chap who introdooced me to Mr. Sangerly? This is him, Dot. He come all the way from Geerusalem to see—— You said somepn about business, Dick. What was it?”
“I believe that Miss Huntington is going out for the evening,” said Lennox, with a glance at Dot. “My errand can wait until to-morrow.”
“Wait—nuthin’, son—not after you come all the way from Soapweed Plains! We got time galore. Come on, what’s on yore mind?”
Lennox brought up a chair for the girl, seated himself and said briskly: “What do you hold your ranch at, Mr. Huntington?”
The other stared. “You mean, what’ll I sell fur?”