"He shore did," laughed Richie. "Yuh couldn't blame the old jigger, though. That 88 brand on yore hoss was misleadin' some."
"That hoss o' mine's been stole. Yep, lifted right in the street in Paradise Bend. Rufe Cutting done it."
"I don't remember him. Is he anybody special besides a hoss thief?"
"Friend o' Blakely's. Block says Rufe's drifted south—him an' the hoss. But Block may be lyin'. Yuh can't tell."
"Did the sheriff give yuh that information free of charge?"
"Not so yuh could notice it. I got it out of him with a quirt, an' I had to drill both his ears, he was that stubborn."
"Drilled both his ears. Well! Well! Yuh'd ought to have killed him."
"I know it. He went an' got Shorty Simms to kill the Sheriff o' Sunset."
"What?"
"Shore. It was thisaway."