"Well, we kind of thought"—Doc Coffin's eyes slid round to cross an instant the shifty gaze of Peaches Austin—"we thought maybe this stranger dealt a card from the bottom. We ain't none shore."
"Dale said he did, anyhow," said Peaches Austin.
"He said so twice," put in Lanpher.
Racey turned deliberately. "You here," said he, softly. "I didn't see you at first. I must be getting nearsighted. You saw the whole thing, did you, Lanpher?"
"Yeah," replied Lanpher.
"Who pulled first?"
"The stranger." The answer came patly from at least five different men.
Racey looked grimly upon those present. "Most everybody seems shore the stranger's to blame," he observed. "Besides saying the stranger was dealing from the bottom did Dale use any other fighting words?"
"He called him a—tinhorn," burst simultaneously from the lips of
McFluke and Peaches Austin.
"Only two this time," said Racey, shooting a swift glance at Jack Harpe and overjoyed to find the latter dividing a glare of disgust between McFluke and Austin. "But you'll have to do better than that."