"Nothing! I used to have to lick him every year. We've sort of missed each other lately."
"Then you were merely renewing a pleasant acquaintance?" laughed the younger man. "He hit you in the mouth too, I see."
"No, I got that from a stranger. I was bedding him down when he kicked me with his boot. He ain't here this morning."'
"If I were you, I'd go up to the hotel and get some sleep," Boyd advised. "I'll oversee things."
George hesitated. "I don't know if I'd better go or not. They've all got hang-overs, and they're liable to bu'st out any minute if you don't watch them. They ain't vicious, understand; they just like to frolic around."
"I'll watch them."
After a contemplative glance at his companion's well-knit figure, Balt gave in, with the final caution: "Don't let them get the upper hand, or there won't be no living with them."
After his departure, Boyd was not long in learning the cause of his hesitancy, for no sooner did the men realize the change in authority over them than they undertook to feel out the mettle of their new foreman. Directly one of them approached him, with the demand:
"Get us a drink, boss; we're thirsty."
"There is the water-tap," said Emerson. "Help yourself."