"I didn't know you fell down inside the barn," Racey observed.
"There's lots you dunno," said Luke, ungraciously.
"So there is," assented Racey. "But don't rub it in, Luke. Rubbing it in hurts my feelings. And my feelings are tender to-day—most awful tender, Luke. Don't you go for to lacerate 'em. I ain't owing you a dime, you know."
To this Luke Tweezy made no comment. But he resumed his squattering about the floor and his poking and delving in the piles of hay. He raised a dust that flew up in clouds. He coughed and snorted and snuffed. Racey and Swing Tunstall laughed.
"Makes you think of a hay-tedder, don't he?" grinned Racey. "How much did you lose, Luke—two bits?"
At this Luke looked up sharply. "Seems to me you got over yore drunk pretty quick," said he.
"Oh, my liquor never stays by me a great while," Racey told him easily. "That's the beauty of being young. When you get old and toothless an' deecrepit like some people, not to mention no names of course, why then she's a cat with another tail entirely."
"What'ell's goin' on in here?" It was Red Kane speaking. Red was Tom
Kane's brother.
Racey and Swing moved apart to let him through. Red Kane entered, stared at the spectacle of Luke Tweezy and his bobbing lantern, stared and stared again.
"What you doing, Luke?" he demanded.