more'n plenty to drink, same as usual. But when it comes to sleepin',
well, you got to make floors an' chairs an' tables do. You see this here
little shower has filled me all up. The Lew Yates place up the river got
itself pretty well washed out; Lew's young wife an' ol' mother-in-law,"
and Poke's voice was properly modified, "got scared clean to pieces. Not
bein' used to our ways out here," he added brightly. "Any way they've
got the spare bed room. An' my room an' Ma's ... well, Ma's got a real
bad cold an' she's camped there for the night. But, shucks, boys, what's
the odds, when there's fire in the fire place an' grub in the grub box
an' as fine a line of licker as you can find any place I know of. An' a
deck or two of cards an' the bones to rattle for them that's anxious to
make or break quick ... Hap Smith _ought_ to been here before now. You
wouldn't suppose...."

He broke off and looked at those of the faces which had been turned his
way. His thought was plain to read, at least for those who understood
recent local conditions. Hap Smith had been driving the stage over the
mountains for only something less than three weeks; which is to say
since the violent taking off of his predecessor, Bill Varney.

Before any one spoke the dozen men in the room had had ample time to
consider this suggestion. One or two of them glanced up at the clock
swinging its pendulum over the chimney piece. Then they went on with
what they were doing, glancing through old newspapers, dealing at
cards, smoking or just sitting and staring at nothing in particular.

"The last week has put lots of water in all the cricks," offered old man
Adams from his place by the fire. "Then with this cloud-bust an'
downpour today, it ain't real nice travellin'. That would be about all
that's holdin' Hap up. An' I'm tellin' you why: Did you ever hear a man