Four of a Kind 281 



said forty-five yards, and you," turning to the other, 

 " said forty-two, and Dellygait here, he took even 

 forty for his'n. You men are mighty poor guessers. 

 Why, you ain't none of you within five yards of the 

 actool distance that is, not if I know anything." 



Each of us told him he surely was wrong, to which 

 he retorted that he'd bet our total bills against 

 a " ten spot " that he was nearer right than we were. 

 The parsons being out of the question, I took him 

 up. 



Before we could start for the measuring, we heard 

 a cheery voice and a heavy step, and into the room 

 strode our gigantic guide. 



" Mornin'. Thought I'd just step in to see how 

 you'd rested up." 



We assured him that we never felt better; then 

 laughingly explained about the wager and that we 

 were just going to measure the distance and learn 

 who was the victim. He gave a quick, peculiar 

 gasp, then his broad face set in an expression of 

 stolid indifference, but for some reason his eye 

 seemed to fairly blaze with delight. 



" Lemme see," he said, " you say forty-five, and you 

 forty-two, you forty, and the Boss here bets none of 

 you is within five yards of the correct figure. Well, 

 one thing's certain the Boss ain't in it ! " 



" That so ? Bet you five I win," chuckled the 

 Boss. 



" I'll just have to go you ! " retorted our guide, 

 and they put up the money. 



The Boss and the guide did the measuring while 

 the rest of us looked closely on. They had to do it 

 over three times before both had to own that the 



