Again a series of spasms of turbulent mirth seized upon his friends. They doubled up with glee. They wept tears of joy. They howled down his anguish with approving acclaim while they did a double hop around him as a vent to their enthusiasm. The biter had been bit. The joke had been turned against the joker, and in the most primitive and direct way. This was the most humorous event in the history of the Rio Blanco Utes. It was destined to become the stock tribal joke.
Dud, now tremendously popular, joined in the dance. As he shuffled past Bob he growled an order at him.
“Get up on yore hind laigs an’ dance. I got these guys going my way. Hop to it!”
Bob danced, at first feebly and with a heart of water. He need not have worried. If Dud had asked to be made a blood member of the tribe he would have been elected by fourteen out of the sixteen votes present.
The first faint streaks of day were in the sky when the Utes mounted their ponies and vanished over the hill. From the door Dud watched them go. It had been a strenuous night, and he was glad it was over. But he wouldn’t have missed it for a thousand dollars. He would not have admitted it. Nevertheless he was immensely proud of himself in the rôle of court jester.
Bob sat down on the bunk. He was a limp rag of humanity. In the reaction from fear he was inclined to be hysterical.
“You saved my life—when—when that fellow—” He stopped, gulping down a lump in the throat.
The man leaning against the door-jamb stretched his arms and his mouth in a relaxing yawn. “Say, fellow, I wasn’t worryin’ none about yore life. I was plumb anxious for a moment about Dud Hollister’s. If old Colorow’s gang had begun on you they certainly wouldn’t ’a’ quit without takin’ my topknot for a souvenir of an evenin’ when a pleasant time was had by all.” He yawned a second time. “What say? Let’s hit the hay. I don’t aim for to do no ridin’ this mornin’.”
A faint sniffling sound came from the bunk.
Dud turned. “What’s ailin’ you now?” he wanted to know.