"My name's Wade. I'm packin' over to take a job with Bill Belllounds."
"Git down an' come in," returned Blair. "Bill's man stopped with me some time ago."
"Obliged, I'm sure, but I'll be goin' on," responded Wade. "Do you happen to have a hunk of deer meat? Game powerful scarce comin' up this valley."
"Lots of deer an' elk higher up. I chased a bunch of more 'n thirty, I reckon, right out of my pasture this mornin'."
Blair crossed to an open shed near by and returned with half a deer haunch, which he tied upon Wade's pack-horse.
"My ole woman's ailin'. Do you happen to hev some terbaccer?
"I sure do--both smokin' an' chewin', an' I can spare more chewin'. A little goes a long ways with me."
"Wal, gimme some of both, most chewin'," replied Blair, with evident satisfaction.
"You acquainted with Belllounds?" asked Wade, as he handed over the tobacco.
"Wal, yes, everybody knows Bill. You'd never find a whiter boss in these hills."