"Hey, Kid. Hopalong ought to go right down to th' H2 while he's got time. He hadn't ought to go off fighting without saying good-bye to his girl, had he?" "She'd keep him home--wouldn't let him take no chances of getting shot," Red asserted. "Anyhow, if he went down there he'd forget to come back." "Ow-wow!" cried Johnny. "You hit him! You hit him! Look at his face!" "He shore can't do no courting while he's away," Skinny remarked. "He wouldn't let Red go with him when he went to give Meeker th' shovel, an' I didn't know why till just now." "You go to blazes, all of you!" exclaimed Hopalong, red and uncomfortable. "I ain't doing no courting, you chump! An' Red knows why I went down there alone." "Yes; you gave me a fool reason, an' went alone," Red retorted. "An' if that ain't courting, for th' Lord's sake what is it? Or is she doing all of it, you being bashful?" "Yes, Hoppy; tell us what it is," asked Skinny. "Oh, don't mind them, Hoppy; they're jealous," Johnny interposed. "Don't you make no excuses, not one. Admit that yo're courting an' tell 'em that yo're going to keep right on a-doing it an' get all th' honey you can." Red and Skinny grinned and Hopalong, swearing at Johnny, made a quick grab for him, but missed, for Johnny knew the strength of that grip. "I ain't courting! I'm only trying to--trying to be--sociable; that's all!" "Sociable!" yelled Red. "Oh, Lord!" "It must be nice to be sociable," replied Johnny. "Since you ain't courting, an' are only trying to be sociable, then you won't care if we go down an' try it. Me for th' H2!" "You bet; an' I'm going down, too," asserted Red, who was very much afraid of women, and who wouldn't have called on Mary Meeker for a hundred dollars. Hopalong knew his friend's weakness and he quickly replied: "Red, I dare you to do that. I dare you to go down there an' talk to her for five minutes. When I say talk, I don't mean stammer. I dare you!" "Do you dare _me_?" asked Johnny, quickly, glancing at the sun to see how much time he had. "Oh, I ain't got time," replied Red, grinning. "You ain't got th' nerve, you mean," jeered Skinny. "I dare you, Red," Hopalong repeated, grimly. "I asked you if you dared _me?_" hastily repeated Johnny. "_You!_ Not on yore life, Kid. But you stay away from there!" Hopalong warned. "Gee--wish you'd lend me them cartridges," sighed Johnny. "Mebbe Meeker has got some he ain't so stingy with," he added, thoughtfully. "I'll lend you th' cartridges, Kid," Hopalong offered. "But you stay away from th' H2. D'y hear?" CHAPTER XXV ANTONIO'S REVENGE