"Sit down there!" ordered Dailey, "an' I'll have you rollin' up th' bottoms of yore pockets!" "Wimmin' an children first," quoth Fanning. "Come on, Larry." "Did you hear that?" snorted Larry, staring at him. "I shore will, _now_!" "This is goin' to be pay-day for me," said Dailey in great content. "Where th' devil are we at, anyhow?" Over at the bar Johnny and Slim were carrying on a low-voiced conversation and figuring on a piece of paper, while Arch and Dave entertained each other at the other end of the counter. After a few minutes Johnny nodded his head in quiet satisfaction, put the paper in his pocket and, going up for a few words with Arch and Dave, wandered over to the table and sat down close to it, leaning back to enjoy the fight. He always found keen enjoyment in watching the storekeeper play, for Dailey's red-brown face was suffused with wrinkles of good nature, quite independent of how his fortune tended; his high, shining forehead and the bald spot above and behind it reflected the light and glistened. The eternal cigar he chewed on, cold, stale, and odorous, bobbed animatedly and his shrewd black eyes peered out from under bushy eyebrows, glittering, glinting, and alive with his emotions, like twin mirrors on which were reflected the subtle complexities of a nature enriched by a life crowded with experiences. He had no poker face, but knowing the sad fact, he had made an adept liar out of the one to which Nature had given so much expression. He glanced at Johnny, his eyes dancing. "Yo're comin' nearer th' candle all th' time, little moth," he laughed. "I'll singe them wings of yourn--you see! My flush takes _this_ game. Deal 'em up, Dailey," he grunted, raking in chips and cards. "Come on, Nelson," said Fanning. "Better get in this. Th' old hoss thief is stackin' 'em up for you." "Huh!" Johnny remarked. "It ain't as big a pile as I was hopin'. Oh, well," he sighed, "I'm like th' SV round-up: I take 'em as they come." "How'd they come to start that so early?" asked Fanning. "It's plumb warm for workin' hard." "Wanted to know how many head they had," answered Johnny. "An' what do you know about workin' hard?" "He's seen me lots of times," cut in Dailey. "Did they find out?" "Shore. They've got twelve hundred an' twenty, which would be fourteen hundred an' fifty-five, if Arnold hadn't sold two hundred an' thirty-five head." "That's good, considerin' how things has been let slide over there," remarked Fraser. "Th' old figgers of three years ago," said Johnny, "when Arnold took possession, were sixteen hundred an' eighty-five, in th' fall. Now, lemme see--do I need two or three?" he mused. "Reckon there ain't no use of throwin' away a nice, high card, so I'll take two. I'm plumb fond of holdin' up a sider." He glanced at the two cards, slipped them into his hand and looked around. "Now, I was askin' th' Double X what factor they used to figger natural increase--an' they says one to five. That right?"