Page:For the Liberty of Texas.djvu/32

26 This is my brother Ralph, and he shot the deer you are carrying off."

"Not much!" ejaculated the half-breed. "I brung that deer down myself—shot him through the neck."

"It's not so!" burst out Ralph. "The deer is mine, I brought him down over in the pecan grove on the river."

"Why, youngster, you're dead wrong, I tell you. I shot this deer right down thar on this creek, two hours ago. He limped off after I hit him, but I followed the trail easily and found him in the pecan grove, dead from whar I had struck him in the neck."

This cool answer almost took Ralph's breath away from him. "It was I struck him in the neck, Hank Stiger, and the deer belongs to me, and you sha'n't bluff me out of my meat, either."

"Hush, Ralph, don't be so headstrong," remonstrated Dan, in low tones. "You'll gain a good bit more by keeping cool."

At Ralph's words the half-breed let out a rough, unnatural laugh.

"Boy, you must be daft, to tell me I don't know when I bring down a deer. The deer is mine, and if you shot at him you wasted your powder, that's all."

So speaking, Hank Stiger swung himself on the back of his mustang, which little beast looked all