"Wal, tolerable like," replied Bludsoe, dryly.
"Ahuh! Tell me, then--an' no lies."
Belllounds's shrewd eyes had rested upon Wilson Moore. The cowboy's face showed the red marks of battle and the white of passion.
"I'm not going to lie, you can bet on that," he declared, forcefully.
"Ahuh! I might hev knowed you an' Jack'd clash," said Belllounds, gruffly. "What happened?"
"He hurt my horse. If it hadn't been for that there'd been no trouble."
A light leaped up in the old man's bold eyes. He was a lover of horses. Many hard words, and blows, too, he had dealt cowboys for being brutal.
"What'd he do?"
"Look at Spottie's mouth."
The rancher's way of approaching a horse was singularly different from his son's, notwithstanding the fact that Spottie knew him and showed no uneasiness. The examination took only a moment.