“Don’t you know yourself? I thought you counted them.”
“I did. I just wondered if you had any idea of the number.”
“Well,” said Walt, “I should say that at least five hundred attacked us originally. Probably not more than two-thirds of that number chased us very far. When we passed that ravine I was speaking of, there were about three hundred or three hundred and fifty.”
Joseph laughed outright at this. “What’s the joke?” demanded Walt hotly.
“Do you want to know just how many there were?”
“Of course we do.”
“Well,” said Joseph, “there were exactly twenty-five.”
A howl of derision not only from Walt but from the whole company greeted this remark. The men looked at Joseph contemptuously.
“Your night out must have affected your head,” said Walt sneeringly.
“Nothing of the kind,” exclaimed Joseph warmly, and hot-headed Robert drew a bit closer to his brother in case there should be trouble. “I counted twenty-five and that’s all there were. I don’t believe there were over fifty opposed to us at any time.”