you can see there was no chance to get around. I intended to take
the Dodge trail, from this creek where we are now, but there we were,
blocked in! I was getting a trifle wolfish over the way they were
acting, so I rode forward to see what the trouble was.

"'Oh, I'm in no hurry. You're driving too fast. This is your first
trip, isn't it?' he inquired, as he felt of a pair of checked pants
drying on the wagon wheel.

"'Don't you let any idea like that disturb your Christian spirit, old
man,' I replied with some resentment. 'But if you think I am driving
too fast, you might suggest some creek where I could delude myself
with the idea, for a week or so, that it was not fordable.'

"Assuming an air of superiority he observed, 'You seem to have forgot
what I said to you yesterday.'

"'No, I haven't,' I answered, 'but are you going to stay all night
here?'

"'I certainly am, if that's any satisfaction to you,' he answered.

"I got off my horse and asked him for a match, though I had plenty
in my pocket, to light a cigarette which I had rolled during the
conversation. I had no gun on, having left mine in our wagon, but
fancied I'd stir him up and see how bad he really was. I thought it
best to stroke him with and against the fur, try and keep on neutral
ground, so I said,--

"'You ain't figuring none that in case of a run to-night we're a