Nebrasky Jones joined Lonnie, and within an hour Dan Leach rode in from the Flying H. Uncle Hozie and the girls had reached the ranch, and Dan said there was too much grief for him; so he came to town.
And thus the Heavenly Triplets got together. Nebrasky and Lonnie were far ahead of Dan, so far as drinks were concerned, and were already given to short crying spells. Lonnie insisted on repeating the story of how they found Joe Rich with Jim Wheeler. According to Lonnie’s varying stories, they found Joe and Jim everywhere along the road from the Tumbling River bridge to Pinnacle City.
Time after time he explained how he had broken the bad news to Peggy and Laura. His diplomacy was wonderful to hear, and some of his speeches left him breathless. When as a matter of fact he had said to Peggy:
“Jim’s been dragged and they’re takin’ him to town. Dunno how bad he’s hurt, but he shore looks dead to me.”
Dan had been with them about an hour when Kelsey came to the Pinnacle bar. Lonnie looked upon him with great disfavor. Joe had been a particular bunkie of the Flying H boys, and they were still loyal. No matter if Joe had resigned voluntarily, they felt that Len Kelsey was to blame.
Len walked back among the tables, where he talked to “Handsome” Harry Clark, who owned the Pinnacle. Harry was not handsome by any known standard of beauty, being a hard-faced, sandy-haired individual, with a crooked nose and one sagging eyebrow, caused by stopping a beer bottle in full flight.
“I don’ like ’m,” declared Lonnie owlishly. “Heza disgrash to—to anythin’ what’ver.”
“My sen’ments to a i-ota,” said Nebrasky. “But what can yuh do, Lonnie? Yo’re speakin’ of our sher’f, ain’tcha?”
“O-o-o-oh, u-nan-i-mushly!”
“Don’t be foolish,” advised Dan, who was half sober yet. “He’s the sheriff, no matter if he should have been drowned in infancy.”