"Drop it, you fools! Nobody's saying nothing again the missus, Bean. They're just joshing you. You needn't get so touchy anyway; she ain't your wife."
Bean, whose anger rose and fell with disturbing unexpectedness, dropped the chair.
"No sech luck!" he growled. "If she was I wudn't risk her where you slimy coyotes was."
Alkali broke in:
"And now what's the agendar, Dakota? Takin' on that Irvine job this week. 'T should be a good time with the boss away."
Dakota screwed his eyes up thoughtfully. "That's what I had in mind."
"No rifles this time," protested Bean Slade. "We've toted 'em once too often—I don't know but twice too often. Br-r-r! I won't ever forget——"
"Shut your clap, Bean! You've had your man in your day, heaps of 'em."
"They allus had their chance," growled Bean. "No rifles, I say, or I don't go."
Three or four insulting guffaws greeted the threat.