Kid Wolf shook his head.
"But, say," blurted Harry. He leaned across the table to whisper:
"How about all that money in that poker game down in Mariposa? It's yores, not mine!"
"I did that," said The Kid, as he whispered back, "so yo' could buy Ma a little present. Don't forget! A nice one!"
"What did I ever—ever do to deserve this happiness?" Ma Thomas sighed, and she interrupted the furtive conversation of the two young men by placing a big dish of shortcake between them.
"By gettin' aftah me with a shotgun," said Kid Wolf with a laugh.
CHAPTER XVI
A GAME OF POKER
A whitened human skull, fastened to a post by a rusty tenpenny nail, served as a signboard and notified the passing traveler that he was about to enter the limits of Skull, New Mexico.
"Oh, we're ridin' 'way from Texas, and the Rio,
Comin' to a town with a mighty scary name,
Shall we turn and vamos pronto for the Rio,
Or show some hombres how to make a wild town tame?"