“There’s been enough fightin’,” observed the sheriff. “Did anybody hear what caused Tex to hit Barnhardt?”
Nobody had. Some one secured a bucket of water, which they sluiced over the helpless Barnhardt. It made a mess of him, but served to jolt him back to consciousness. After a minute or two he was able to stand on his feet, but his jaw did not function properly. Hashknife examined it but found it was not broken.
“Why did he hit yuh, Lee?” asked the sheriff.
“Idnuk,” said Lee painfully. Interpreted, this might be construed to mean “I don’t know.”
And this was all the explanation he was willing to mumble. He went out to his sway-backed horse, and headed for Blue Wells, riding slowly and caressing his jaw.
The sheriff was the last to leave, and he would have stayed longer, except that the four cowboys from the AK ranch rode in. They had heard of the dynamiting, in Blue Wells. The sheriff did not care for their company; so he rode away.
“My ——, that shore is another wreck of the Hesperus, ain’t she?” said Eskimo Swensen. “Wham! I’ll betcha she made some noise.”
“It came near being serious,” said Jimmy. Johnny Grant grinned widely and slapped Jimmy on the back.
“You derned hoodoo! It looks as though this was the third time they’d tried to kill yuh off. I dunno what they’ll use next.”
“Tie him on a railroad track,” suggested Oyster.