“Well, damn his soul!”
There followed a silence, broken by a laugh from Billy. “Don't glare at me like that. I didn't say it!”
But Hal continued to glare, nevertheless. “The dirty little skunk!”
“Take it easy, sonny,” said the fat man, soothingly. “It's quite the usual thing, to drag in a woman. It's so easy—for of course there always is a woman. There's one in this case, I suppose?”
“There's a perfectly decent girl.”
“But you've been friendly with her? You've been walking around where people can see you?”
“Yes.”
“So you see, they've got you. There's nothing you can do about a thing of that sort.”
“You wait and see!” Hal burst out.
The other gazed curiously at the angry young miner. “What'll you do? Beat him up some night?”