"Look out, boys, here comes Buck McKee now!" she shouted.
Unconsciously the men laid their hands on their guns and assumed offensive attitudes.
Allen cried sharply: "Keep your hands off your guns, boys. One bad break means the starting of a lot of trouble."
Buck and his band threw themselves off their horses, ranging themselves opposite Sage-brush the Sweetwater boys.
Swaggering up to Sage-brush, the half-breed insolently demanded: "Who's the boss of this yere Payson outfit?"
"I reckon you are talkin' to him now," coolly replied the foreman.
"You've got one of my boys over here," bellowed Buck, adding with the implied threat: "an' we've come for him."
Sage-brush was not bluffed by Buck's insolence or his swaggering manners. "I reckon you can't have him just yet."
"What's he been doing?" demanded Buck.
"He killed Billie Nicker—that's one thing."