"No. Tell us, won't you?" said Joshua.

"We was ridin' together over in Alameda County. We'd met
permiscuous, like we've met to-day. I was tellin' him how four b'ars
attacked me once, and I fit 'em all single-handed, when he laughed,
and said he reckoned I'd been drinkin' and saw double. If he'd
knowed me better, he wouldn't have done it."

"What did you do?" asked Joshua, interested.

Joe, who was satisfied that the fellow was romancing, did not exhibit
any interest.

"What did I do?" echoed the Pike County man fiercely. "I told him he
didn't know the man he insulted. I told him I was from Pike County,
Missouri, and that I was a rip-tail roarer."

"And could whip your weight in wildcats," suggested Joe.

The Pike man appeared irritated.

"Don't interrupt me, boy," he said. "It ain't healthy."

"After you'd made them remarks what did you do?" inquired Joshua.

"I told him he'd insulted me and must fight. I always do that."

"Did he fight?"