Page:Raymond Spears--Diamond Tolls.djvu/72

 "Oh, I don't know," Frest managed to retort. "Some river ladies teach soft-paws things they don't need to know!" "Well, yes," Mrs. Mahna admitted. "Comes natural to an old hen to kind of look after the pullets. All that copper heavy? Lawse! I bet you paid twelve cents for it."

"No, I didn't." Frest grinned, cunningly. "All I done was pack it on board"

"Sho! Hit must of been in a dark bend?"

"That's just what it was—six thousand pounds, and all I done was lug it."

"All I got to say is, if I'd found six thousand pounds of copper, and the market was near twenty-three cents, I couldn't get to that market quick enough."

"I expect that's right," Frest admitted. "You going to drop right down—or be you hunting and traping along? You'n Delia?"

"We're just hunting table meat. We'll be to Mendova, if we have to trip nights and Sundays."

"Then I'll meet you folks there. I'll have a lot of money to give somebody a good rime," he hinted, winking craftily.

"You sure will." Mrs. Mahna shook her head, with admiration and an expression of cunning on her own countenance.

"Then I guess I won't stop here." Frest shook his