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Murphy could now di s, and his Colt shot up to the level "Stop!--ye

take another--step an' I 'll--let drive Ye tell me--first--who ye be"

The invader paused, but he realized the nervous finger pressing the

trigger and ht, I tell ye I 'm

one o' Terry's scouts"

"Ye are? Jist the sah I saw service in the Seventh"

Murphy was still a trifle suspicious "How'd ye git yere? How 'd ye

coain "Sorter hurts yer perfessional feelins, don't

it, old feller, to be dropped in on in this unceremonious way? But it

was dead easy, old man Ye see I happened thro' Cheyenne only a couple

o' hours behind ye, with a bunch o' papers fer the Yellowstone The

trail's plain enough out this far, and I loped 'long at a pretty fair

hickory, so thet I was up on the bluff yonder, and saw ye go into camp

yere just afore dark You wus a-keepin' yer eyes skinned across the

Fourche, and naturally didn't expect no callers from them hills behind

The rest wus nuthin', an' here I aht pleasanter ter

hev company travellin', ter my notion Now kin I cum on?"

Murphy reluctantly lowered his Colt, every

annoyance "I reckon But I 'd--a daer caht was

far too dark to reveal features, but to Murphy's strained vision the