Page:Clarence Mulford - Man from Bar-20.djvu/164

 The Man from Bar-20 "So he's still prospectin'," laughed Ackerman. "He'll starve to death."

"I ain't so shore about that," said Charley. "He weighed his gold on my scales an' it was one pound an' eleven ounces. It was all gold, too; I saw it."

"He-he-he!" chuckled Pop. "If yore scales said one eleven he only had about half a pound. Them scales are worse than a cold deck."

"That's a lie; an' you know it! Them scales are honest!"

"Then they ain't 'pervious to their 'sociations," grinned Pop. He reached behind him, picked up a package and turned to Ackerman. "Did you say you was goin' near th' Circle S?" he inquired.

"He did not," said Charley gleefully. "Didn't I say you was an old woman?"

Ackerman laughed, winked at Charley and went out; and the two cronies listened to the rapidly dying hoof-beats.

Pop wheeled and glared at his friend. "Now you've done it! Ain't you got no sense, tellin' him where Nelson is?"

"If I had much I wouldn't hang out with you," grinned Charley. "But I got a little; an' if he crosses th' river he won't find Nelson. A Circle S puncher saw him hoofin' it into th' southwest. Quien sabe?"

"Sometimes you do have a spark of common sense," 152