"Luck?" muttered the marshal, gazing inquiringly at the glass of whiskey he had raised from the bar, as though it might tell him what he wanted to know. "I ain’t so shore of that, Williams," he slowly said. "Them old sour-doughs get snowed in near every winter, up in th’ hills; an’ then they ain’t got nothin’ to do but eat, sleep, swap lies, an’ play cards. Somethin’ tells me there wasn’t a whole lot of luck in it. I know I had all I could do to stay in th’ saddle without pullin’ leather--an’ I ain’t exactly cuttin’ my teeth where poker is concerned. Listen to ’em, will you? Squabblin’ like a lot of kids. I reckon they had this cooked up in grand style. They’re all sharin’ in th’ winnin’s, you’ll notice." He paused in surprise as a dull roar faintly shook the room. "What’s that?" he demanded sharply. "It can’t be thunder!" His companion shook his head. "No, it ain’t; it’s that Murphy blowin’ up rock, like I was sayin’ at supper. Hope he went up with it!" He laughed at a man who was just coming in, and who stopped dead in the door and listened to the rumble. "Yore shack’s safe, Jake," he called. "Th’ Mick’s blastin’ over past yore way. You remember what I’ve told you!" he warned. Jake looked from the speaker to the careless, but inwardly alert, city marshal, scowled, shuffled over to a table, and called for a drink, thereafter entirely ignoring the peace officer. Henry came in soon after and joined the two at the bar. "Yes, I’ll have th’ same. You two goin’ ridin’ ag’in, Marshal?" he asked. Tex shrugged his shoulders. "It shore don’t look like it. She mebby figgered me out. Anyhow, she slammed th’ door plumb in my face." He frowned. "Somehow I don’t get used to things like that. She could ’a’ treated me like I wasn’t no tramp, anyhow, couldn’t she?" Henry smiled maliciously, and felt relieved. "They’re shore puzzlin’. I hear that coyote Watkins was out there this afternoon. There wasn’t no door slammed in _his_ face." His little eyes glinted. "I see where he’s goin’ to learn a lesson, an’ learn it for keeps!" "Oh, he got throwed, too," chuckled Tex, as if finding some balm in another’s woe. "He stopped off on his way home an’ told me about it. Got a busted heart, an’ belly-achin’ like a sick calf. That’s what he is; an’ it’s calf love, as well. Shucks! When I was his age I fell in love with a different gal about every moon. Besides, he ain’t got money, nor prospects: an’ she knows it." Henry took him by the arm and led him to a table in a far corner. "I been thinkin’ I mebby ought to send her a present, or somethin’," he said, watching his companion’s face. "You, havin’ more experience with ’em, I figgered mebby you would help me out. _I_ don’t know what to get her." "Weakenin’ already," muttered the marshal, trying to hide a knowing, irritating smile. "Pullin’ leather, an’ ain’t hardly begun to ride yet!"