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Rh He nudged John with his elbow. "I'm from Pancake, but I'll show 'em a step or two when I land there with fifty dollars!"

"Fifty dollars is a lot of money," said Taylor.

"Not a cent too much! I told Jim it wasn't when he offered it to me to sign th' complaint over in th' judge's office. It won't last long, but then, I can get a job easy, I can—"

He ambled on with his puerile boasts while Taylor's mind worked like lightning.

"Have you seen Jim tonight?" he asked, to bring the boy back to those pregnant facts.

"Nope. Don't 'tend to, neither. He give me five on th' promise that I wouldn't get jingled—But, hell, Pancake's too dead for a sober man. Besides I ain't told nobody but you—an' you know it already. It's all fixed, anyhow. We'll have old Hump sunk an' I'm th' complainin' witness, ain't I?"

He sat up in his chair and swayed to peer closely into Taylor's face.

"Can't do nothin' without me, can they? Can't turn a wheel, can they? Huh! Guess I got a right to get jingled a little on your money! I ain't any damn fool, Taylor. I know what's goin' oh. All you fellers want is to get Bryant out of th' way so you can razee this Foraker girl back into th' brush an' you an' Rowe get her pine." Spit. Wipe of hand across an uncouth chin. "B' God I ain't so damn dumb!"

No, he was not damned dumb! He saw through Harris' scheme and his words brought order and reason to Taylor.

So they were after Bryant, were they? They were framing him? And then, with him out of the way, Helen