Bat, who had scouted ahead to make sure that
he had not succeeded in slipping his bonds and had plotted mischief,
sat grinning beside the corral fence as he listened, unobserved, to the
whimpering and wailing of the man who lay bound beside the cabin door.
"What's the matter, Willie?" smiled Tex, as he slipped from his seat
behind Endicott's saddle. "Didn't your breakfast set right?"
The man rolled to face them at the sound of the voice, and such a
stream of obscene blasphemy poured from his lips as to cause even the
Texan to wince. Without a word the cowboy reached for a bar of soap
that lay awash in the filthy water of a basin upon a bench beside the
door, and jammed it down the man's throat. The sounds changed to a
sputtering, choking gurgle. "Maybe that'll learn you not to talk vile
when there's ladies around."
"Water!" the man managed to gasp.
"Will you quit your damn swearin'?"
Long Bill nodded, and Tex held a dipper to his lips.
"Go catch up the horses, Bat, an' we'll be gettin' out of here. They's
some reptiles so mean that even their breath is poison."
As Bat started for the alfalfa field the man fairly writhed with fury:
"I'll hev the law on ye, ye--" he stopped abruptly as Tex reached for
the soap.
"You won't have the law on no one, you lizard! You don't dare to get
within hollerin' distance of the law.
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