The caller sat down, tucked his red handkerchief under his chin, hitched his revolver holster back a little further, leaned over and sniffed at his heaping plate of bear meat, then fell to with a will. "He ate as if he had had nothing to eat for a fortnight," as Emma confided to Anne Nesbit. Washington made a fresh pot of coffee for him. "Reckon this 'ere's as fine a piece o' beef as Ah ever stowed," observed the guest, rolling his eyes up to the assembled Riders. "It isn't beef. It's--" began Emma, but quickly subsided as Anne pinched her warningly. "It's what?" demanded the caller. "Codfish!" answered Emma lamely. The stranger shrugged his shoulders and resumed his eating. "Ahem!" said Hippy by way of clearing his throat. "It is a fine, large evening. Do you ordinarily have such large evenings in the Kentucky mountains?" "Off an' on, Mister. Wall, Ah reckon Ah'm full clear to the gullet. Who be ye-all?" "We call ourselves the Overland Riders. May I ask who you are?" questioned Hippy. "Ah'm the game constable of this 'ere county. Where's the bear?" "Some--some of it is--is inside of you," gasped Emma Dean a little hysterically. CHAPTER XVI A JOKE ON THE OVERLANDERS "Help!" murmured Elfreda Briggs. "The game constable!" repeated Lieutenant Wingate. "Oh! Glad to know you, old man. Glad to know you. This is a genuine pleasure, I assure you. How is business? Are you arresting any game--rabbits, possums, or anything of that sort?" went on Hippy jovially, to hide his real feelings. Grace Harlowe laughed in a low tone. "Ah may be. Ah asked, where is the bear?" "Bear, bear?" questioned the lieutenant, glancing about him inquiringly. "I--I didn't know that you had lost one. What sort of a looking bear was he, and did he wear a license tag on his collar or--" "Oh, shet up!" growled the constable. "That was bear meat Ah had fer mah supper. No one ain't allowed to have bear meat till December." "Then why did you eat what you say was bear meat?" demanded Miss Briggs in her severest legal tone. "You say no one is allowed to have bear meat until December, but it appears to me that you have had your share of it this evening." "Whut's that over thar?" he exploded, pointing to where the carcass of Elfreda's bear was faintly discernible, hanging by its hocks from a pole suspended between two trees. The constable strode over and peered at what was left of Mr. Bruin. "So, that's what yer up to in these 'ere mountings, eh?" Hippy shrugged his shoulders. "You win," he said. "What is the answer?" "Wall, Ah reckons as if you'd pay me fer the bear an'--an' settle fer the damages, Ah might--" "Settle nothing!" roared Hippy in a tone calculated to frighten the visitor, but which failed to have that effect. "Why, I could have you arrested for trying to accept a bribe from a former United States officer. You will get no bribe from me."