"Smoke a pipe," said the other. "That
thing you have is bad for your complexion."

"I can take care of my complexion," said
Henderson, firmly.

The two looked each other straight in the
eye.

"You don't go on smoking that thing till
you have apologized for that grin you had
on your phiz a moment ago."

"I laugh when I please, and I smoke
what I please," said Henderson, hotly, his
face flaming as he realized that he was in
for his first "row."

That was how it began. How it would
have ended is not known -- probably there
would have been only one John -- if it had
not been for the almost miraculous appear-
ance at this moment of the third John. For
just then the two belligerents found them-
selves prostrate, their pistols only half-cocked,
and between them stood a man all gnarled
and squat, like one of those wind-torn oaks
which grow on the arid heights. He was
no older than the others, but the lines in