“Catch a rabbit before yuh skin him,” grunted Whispering. “The worst of it is, this must have happened while I’m down at the bunk-house last night.”
“We left yuh here to guard her,” said Sailor.
“You left me here ’cause I had rheumatism, yuh mean. Nobody told me to ride herd on her.”
“Well, boys, it couldn’t be helped,” sighed Len. “There’s no blame comin’ to anybody. Mebby everythin’ is all right. I guess I’ll go to town and have a talk with Baggs,” and then savagely: “And he’ll talk to me, or I’ll saw off his damn ears.”
“That would be my idea of a holiday,” grinned Whispering as Len hurried down to the stable to get his horse.
“Why does everybody hate Baggs?” asked Hashknife.
“I dunno,” confessed Whispering. “I hate him for the things he said about Len at the trial. Old Harmony Singer hated him a-plenty. I had to talk pretty strong to keep Harmony from killin’ him. He shore was a tough old feller.”
“Singer was dragged to death, wasn’t he?”
Whispering nodded sadly.
“They didn’t make ’em better,” said Sailor.