But you wus a-watchin' of her, though. I'll bet ef you looked
at 'er once you did forty times. As for her, I happen to know some'n
funny. You see, I heerd her an' Wambush a-talkin' on the back porch
when I went out thar to draw up a bucket o' water. The rope had got
tangled somehow, an' I had to fix it, an' while I was doin' of it I
couldn't help heerin' what they said, beca'se Toot wus as mad as a wet
hen, an' didn't keer a dern who heerd 'im."
"Mad--at her?" ejaculated Westerfelt.
"Yes; it seemed that he had bantered her to say what she thought about
you, an' she'd up an' told him you wus about the best-lookin' man she'd
ever seed, an' that you looked like a born gentleman, an' one thing
anuther. I couldn't heer all that passed betwixt 'em, but he wus as
nigh a' explosion as I ever seed 'im git without goin' off. You'd
better look out. He won't do to meddle with. He's a bad egg--an'
tricky."
When Bradley had gone, leaving his guest in the dark, Westerfelt found
himself unable to sleep for thinking of what Luke had said.
"I wonder, really," he mused, "why I didn't talk to her as I did to the
others, for I certainly wanted to bad enough.
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