Ted grinned. "Have they been pushing you pretty hard, Loring?"
"I've been on the go forty-seven hours a day and, at a conservative estimate, I've walked nine million miles since deer season opened."
"Was it bad?"
"No worse than usual. Most of the hunters who came in were a pretty decent lot. But there always is—and I suppose always will be—the wise guy who thinks he can get away with anything. I caught one joker with nine deer."
"Wow!"
"He was fined," Loring said happily, "a hundred dollars for each one and suspension of hunting privileges for five years."
"Smoky Delbert give you any trouble?"
"You know better than that. Smoky can't walk a hundred yards from his house and won't be able to for a long while to come."
"I feel kind of sorry for the poor cuss," Ted murmured.
Loring Blade looked at him sharply. "You didn't come here to ask me about Smoky."