“Rather odd, wasn’t it?”
“Derry’s mostly odd, size him up anyways you hev’ a mind ter.”
“I could have understood it better had he christened the place, ‘The Bargain.’ He shook me up good and hard when he grabbed Dolores for five thousand dollars.”
“He sure had his wits about him, had Derry,” said MacGonigal admiringly.
“And he has gone now to New York, you tell me,” went on Willard.
“East, I said.”
“Well, East stands for New York all the time. Is he making a long stay there?”
“He never said a word. Jest, ‘So long, Mack,’ an’, ‘So long, Derry.’ That’s all thar was to it. Kin I get you a drink? Thar’s a chunk of ice somewhar in the outfit.”
“No, thanks. Time I got a move on. How about those freight cars of yours? Have I a clear road back through the Gulch?”
“Thar’s a half-hour’s off spell right now,” was the prompt answer, and a minute later the resident manager of El Preço mine was watching Willard descend the canyon in the direction of Bison.