“Playin’ safe, eh?” said Ralston. “Well, I don’t blame yuh. When a feller’s a stranger, he can’t be too careful.”
“I’ll watch my own hide,” declared Hashknife. “I dunno where that feller, Cates, heard all that stuff about me. He must ’a’ got me mixed with somebody else. Anyway, he’s all wrong if he thinks I’m huntin’ rewards.”
“Well,” laughed Kelsey, “he told me he didn’t believe half he had heard about yuh.”
“I’m shore glad about that,” said Hashknife simply. “Well, I’ve got to be movin’ along gents. Good huntin’ to yuh.”
Hashknife rode on toward the ranch, while Kelsey and his deputy went on to Pinnacle City. Kelsey swore softly at sight of the Heavenly Triplets’ horses at the Pinnacle rack.
“There’s two HJ broncs there too,” observed Ralston. “That means Honey Bee and Stevens. I don’t reckon we’ll have much to do with the Pinnacle as long as they’re holdin’ forth.”
And they were surely holding forth. Sleepy and Honey still had a little money, and the boys from the Flying H were spending their next month’s wages. William H. Cates, the detective, had fallen into their toils and was enjoying it.
Also, Mr. Cates was marvelling at the amount of raw liquor they could consume without showing it. Mr. Cates was rather proud of his own ability, but he was beginning to have a hunch that before long he was going to see a lot more men than were actually in the room.
“Thish is lots of fun,” he announced.
“Par’ner, you ain’t started,” declared Lonnie. “You stay with us and we’ll show yuh bush’ls ’f di’monds. Oh, yessir, you’ll shee lots of’m. We’ll show yuh levity, y’betcha.”