"I guess maybe I did, Bill. I'll take a little walk down to the Palace after I eat. Thanks for the warnin'. Feed the little hoss, will yuh, Bill?"
"Shore. Go on in an' holler for Lize."
While Loudon was eating, a wiry, brisk little man with a white beard entered the dining room.
"How are yuh, Cap'n?" grinned Loudon.
Captain Burr, surprise and embarrassment in his steel-blue eyes, advanced and gripped Loudon's hand.
"Loudon! By ——, suh!" he exclaimed. "This is indeed a pleasuh!"
The tin-peddler slid into a chair and cleared his throat several times.
"I feah, suh," he said, shamefacedly, "that I have trespassed on youah prese'ves. Had I known that you were in town I would have stayed my hand."
"Why? What?" queried Loudon.
"Well, suh, I'll tell you the whole story. It's sho't. Twenty minutes ago I ente'ed the Palace Saloon. While drinking at the bah I could not help but overheah the conve'sation of half-a-dozen 88 cowboys. One of them, a man named Rudd, mentioned youah name and called you a rustlah.