“But you’re not going away for years and years,” declared Peggy. “Not after what you’ve done, Hashknife. Stay here in the Tumbling River with all of us.”
“Ye fit well in here,” said McLaren.
“And here comes Joe,” said Laura. “We’ll see what he has to say about you going away, Mister Man.”
“And you tell me some time,” smiled Hashknife. “It’ll keep.”
He hurried away to find Sleepy, who was regaling a crowd with a story of the lathered horse.
“It’s shore funny how things work out,” he said. “Here we were headin’ East for a little trip, and all this happens.”
“Are yuh goin’ to keep on headin’ East?” asked one of the crowd.
“Not us,” said Sleepy. “I’m all out of the notion.”
Hashknife turned and went across the street, where he intercepted McLaren.
“We’ve changed our minds about goin’ East,” he said. “We’ll take a couple of horses and saddles instead of them tickets, McLaren.”