Having made these dispositions, Squeaky upturned our bucket and sat himself down upon it about ten feet away from us, his rifle across his knees and his finger on the trigger, and thus addressed us:
“Well, boys, I’m glad to see you at last. We’ve been looking for you for quite a spell, me and my pardner. We thought we’d lost you. It was just a chance we see you coming along this evening, and decided to look you up. Hope you’ve had a pleasant trip since you left Golconda.”
Squeaky made this final remark with so evident an expectation that we should be overcome with astonishment, that we hastened to accommodate him by looking as surprised as we conveniently could at such short notice.
“What do you mean?” asked Jack. “How do you know we came from Golconda? We’ve never met you before.”
“Oh, we know a thing or two, me and my pardner—eh, Pardner?”
Bates nodded.
“We know who you are, well enough. Don’t we, Pardner?”
Again Bates nodded.
“Can’t your partner speak?” asked Jack, innocently.
“Born deef and dumb,” replied Squeaky, without the slightest hesitation.