“Whoa! You ed rattle-brains! Was it a hold-up?”
“Well, was it?” queried Brick, hanging to a rear wheel.
“Git in,” ordered Soapy. “I can’t keep these ed hummin’-birds on the grade, if we don’t git goin’.”
Brick climbed into the seat and Soapy got in beside him. The team started with a jerk and they rattled away toward the Red Hill mine. Brick noticed that Soapy’s jaw was set at a belligerent angle and that his profanity was even more cutting than usual.
“Mind talkin’ about it?” queried Brick. “Yuh must remember that I unloaded early in the game, and all I got was a glimpse.”
“You was pretty ed lucky, at that,” said Soapy. “Did yuh notice the stuff I had in the back of the rig? That old gunnysack and an old rug?”
Brick glanced back. There was nothing in the rear of the buckboard now.
“Yeah, I remember it, Soapy. Where’d it go?”
“It didn’t go—it was taken. I’ve been held-up, by !”
“Held-up? Then it was a”