"Howdy, boys. Glad you've begun to cool off. Quite a warm run, wasn't it?"
From below came an explosion of thick gutturals and hissings. Carmena flung out a hand in a gesture of refusal.
"No, I won't, Cochise. I'll talk American, and so will you—— And you'll speak decently, or we chop off. Sabe?"
There followed a silence of several moments. Carmena's patience soon reached its snapping point. She frowned and started to draw back. The voice below called up, still thick and guttural, but speaking clear-cut English:
"You lied. You said you catch another sucker."
"I said I would fetch another man to the Hole, and I have done it. Any lie about that?" countered the girl.
"Dam' plenty," came back an angry shout. "You knew what we want him for."
"How about Slade? What'll he want him for? Haven't you any sense any more, Cochise? Have you forgotten how Dad had to get you loose? Don't you see you've got to keep on playing the game our way? Yours is out of date. Even in the days of your Uncle Cochise and Geronimo it didn't work."
"They got a heap of fun."
"Well, let me tell you one thing—the new man is my game, not yours. You had your chance and missed it. He stood up full of Gila monster poison and got away from you—threw you off his trail—tricked a bunch of Apache trailers—out-ran and out-thirsted you. Want me to tell that to Slade?"