Dakota turned his eyes suspiciously from one to the other several times.
"Seen a few bits o' stone that might 'a' been bones once," he growled—"not such a lot o' them."
"You no doubt are as familiar as anyone with the banks hereabouts?" suggested the Professor.
"I shore oughta be. Seen every blessed foot on both sides for a matter of fifty miles or so a million times."
"Ah! And you've seen the fossils? Where, may I enquire?"
Dakota felt for a cigarette, found he had neglected to put them in his new clothes, and put a match between his lips instead.
"Seen a few to the east——"
"But I've covered the ground myself rather well in that direction. It's the west I'm most interested in. It was several hundred miles to the west, this side of the town of Red Deer, where my hated rivals of the American Museum of Natural History made their discoveries——"
"Not a da—I mean a durn thing to the west, mister," Dakota broke in firmly. "All I ever seen in that direction was within three miles, or at least four. Lots o' them down here just where the cliff starts, enough to keep you going a dozen summers."
"Do you mean you'd advise me not to go further west?"