"Bill Sawyer, come here!" and then returned to us, while William Sawyer, who seemed to have been rehearsed in his part, came trotting up with alacrity, feeling in his inside pocket for the paper that he seemed to know—although he had been out of hearing distance of us—was to be called for at this stage of the game. As Sawyer left his chums they all gathered about Joe—he of the old cavalry jacket—and seemed to be holding an earnest consultation.
As Sawyer reached us I had time to notice that he wore a green patch over his left eye—or the place where the eye had been; a villainous grin added devilishness to his sinister countenance. In his hand he held the same old yellow envelope that Jack and I had seen Joe using to copy the mules' brands on.
Taking the old envelope triumphantly from his man, Tucker passed it to Tom with a confident air as he demanded.
"Now, let's compare the brands marked on that paper with the brands on them mules." And he turned his horse as if to ride around on the other side of our wagon, where the mules were tied.
"'Twon't be necessary—wait a minute," returned Tom as he passed the old envelope to Jack and me with the query: "Do you men recognize that paper?"
"Yes, we've seen it before," we both answered.
"What do you mean?" demanded Tucker in assumed astonishment.
"Just this," replied Tom, looking sternly at the jayhawkers' captain. "This little joke of your'n has gone about far enough. These two men," pointing to Jack and me, "stood an' watched that feller you call Joe—that sneaking coyote out yonder who wears the old cavalry jacket—take this ol' yellow envelope out of his pocket an' copy on it the brands of our mules while the team was standin' in front of the store, when Joe had no idea he was bein' watched. Now, I don't want to hear any more of this foolishness. Mr. Jayhawker, ef you've any other business with us please state it. Ef not this meeting stands adjourned."
Seeing that his deception was detected and that the scheme failed, Tucker apparently concluded to try a bluff on us.
"If you won't listen to reason," said he, "we'll show you what we can do in another line. I'm satisfied that them's Sawyer's mules an' we're going to have 'em. It'll leave you fellows in a bad fix to break up your team by taking the mules, but I'm willin' to do what's right. You give the mules up peaceably and I've got a pair of good, old chunky ponies down to camp that I'll sell you cheap. You may have 'em fer a hundred dollars. I'll just call the boys up an' we'll take the mules along with us now, an'——"