THE WOLF HUNTERS 



me. Tell 'em who I am," and then disappeared 

 into the store. 



Joe stepped up to Jack and said in a confiden- 

 tial way: 



"Pardner, you've made a big mistake to talk 

 so insulting to that man, an' I'm afraid you'll 

 have trouble about it. That's Captain Tucker, 

 one o' the worst men in Kansas. I reckon he's 

 killed more men than I've got fingers an' toes. 

 Best thing you can do now, is to foller him into 

 the store an' call for the drinks, apologize, like a 

 man, an' make it all up with him, fur he's tumble 

 when he's riled, specially when he's drinkin'." 



"Is that so?" exclaimed Jack. "Why, he's a 

 bad one, ain't he? I'm right glad to know him." 



"More'n that," added Joe, "he's captain of our 

 company, an' we're the toughest lot that ever 

 struck this country." 



"Where's your company, and how many of 

 you is they?" asked Jack. 



"Oh, they's a whole lot of us, an' we're camped 

 down on the crick a couple o' miles from here," 

 was Joe's evasive reply. 



I began to get uneasy. What if Jack's rashness 

 should bring this gang of desperadoes down on us? 

 Jack was game and would not back down from the 

 stand he had taken. I knew that Tom who was 

 still in the store getting his sack of grain and knew 

 nothing of the trouble we were about to get into 

 was game, too, and would stand by the Irish- 



44 



