“Pretty good,” replied Baldy. “Healin’ up fine. How’s things at the Tumblin’ H?”
“All right. Hello, Cloudy.”
Cloudy Day recovered sufficiently to realize that these men had not heard his side-splitting tale, so he proceeded to tell it incoherently. Baldy watched Hashknife’s face closely, while Cloudy managed to mumble out the main details, but the tall cowboy’s expression told him nothing.
“Sounds all right,” grinned Hashknife, after Cloudy subsided. “But what does he mean about the stuff bein’ left at the Tumblin’ H?”
“Search me,” said Baldy. “All I know about it is what he’s been tellin’. Wasn’t the revenue officers out there?”
“Sure they was. They searched the ranch from top to bottom, while we sat around and wondered what it was all about.”
“Somebody havin’ a pipe dream,” smiled Baldy. “Ever’ once in a while them revenue officers do things like that.”
“Always tryin’ to put the deadwood on somebody,” declared Jim Reed, who had moved in close to hear the discussion.
Hashknife looked at Jim Reed, and a grin widened his mouth.
“The last time I seen you,” said Hashknife, “you was comin’ out of Hawkworth’s house on yore ear.”