“Salt of the earth,” declared Hashknife. “I’ll betcha he’s as square as they make ’em.”
“I won’t bet,” declared Sleepy. “Anyway, I’m more interested in Casey Steil. He sure ignored us, didn’t he? Hashknife, that mean-faced jigger almost swallowed his teeth. He was so darned scared you’d talk to him that he barked his shins on the sidewalk. How come that yuh didn’t speak to him?”
“That was up to him, Sleepy. Me and you know what Lee Steil used to be, but we’ve got to give him the benefit of the doubt. If he’s workin’ here and goin’ straight—good for him. He don’t need to be scared of us.”
“I’ll betcha he wishes he knew that,” laughed Sleepy.
They walked down to the sheriff’s office, where they found Sunshine, stretched out on a cot. He recognized them, but was in no mood to enthuse over anything.
“I reckon I was pie-eyed last night,” he told them sadly. “My mouth tastes like the bottom of a parrot’s cage today, so I know danged well that I had a cargo aboard. What’s new? I heard Sudden swearin’ around, but he didn’t think me worth while talkin’ to, I guess.”
“Nothin’ much new, Sunshine,” said Hashknife.
“Uh-huh. Ahem-m-m-m! Any news from the battle front, I wonder?”
“Not much. Somebody tried to play rough with us last night, but only killed one of the sheriff’s horses.”
“Eh?” Sunshine sat up quickly. “Which one?”