"Wal, I reckon I'd better tell you," drawled Holley, as Slone hesitated, "thet
Lucy wants to know IF you beat up Joel an' WHY you did."
"Holley! Did she ask you to find out?"
"She sure did. The girl's worried these days, Slone. . . . You see, you
haven't been around, an' you don't know what's comin' off."
"Brackton was here to-day an' he told me a good deal. I'm worried, too," said
Slone, dejectedly.
"Thet hoss of yours, Wildfire, he's enough to make you hated in Bostil's camp,
even if you hadn't made a fool of yourself, which you sure have."
Slone dropped his head as admission.
"What Creech swears he seen you do to Miss Lucy, out there among the rocks,
where you was hid with Wildfire--is there any truth in thet?" asked Holley,
earnestly. "Tell me, Slone. Folks believe it. An' it's hurt you at the Ford.
Bostil hasn't heard it yet, an' Lucy she doesn't know. But I'm figgerin' thet
you punched Joel because he throwed it in your face."
"He did, an' I lambasted him," replied Slone, with force.
"You did right.
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