Williams turned his head, saw his customer perilously balanced on the edge of the counter, and watching him with great interest. "I can find ’em if they’re here, Mr. Jones," he growled. "You might strain yore back, leanin’ that way--yep, here they are, four boxes of ’em. Only want two?" "Reckon I better take all I can git my han’s on," answered Tex. "No tellin’ where I can git any more, they’re that scarce." "Yore rifle looks purty big an’ heavy for these," observed Williams, craning his neck in vain to catch a glimpse of it. It lay on the other side of the horse. "Yes, it’s one of them _sängerbund_, or shootin’-fest guns," replied Tex. "Made for German target clubs, back in th’ East. Got fine sights, an’ is heavy so it won’t tremble none. Two triggers, one settin’ th’ other for hair-trigger pullin’. Cost me fifty-odd. Don’t bother to tie ’em up; they carry easier if they ain’t all in one pocket. Don’t forget that pipe." Williams did some laborious figuring. "I see yo’re gettin’ acquainted fast," he remarked, pushing the change across the counter. "Them Saunders are real interestin’." "Oh, so-so," grunted Tex. "Tenderfeet allus are. But I reckon she’ll make yore nepphey a good wife. Seems to be real sensible, an’ she shore can cook!" "Hennery is a fortunate boy," replied Williams complacently, so complacently that Tex itched to punch him. "He’ll make her a good husban’, bein’ nat’rally domestic an’ affectionate. An’ he’s so sot on it that I’m near as much interested in their courtship as they are. I shore would send anybody to dance in h--l as interfered with it. Gettin’ cooler out?" "Warmer out, an’ in," answered Tex. "Well, they ought to be real happy, bein’ young an’ both near th’ same age. I’m sayin’ age is more important than most folks admit. Me an’ you, now, would be makin’ a terrible mistake if _we_ married a woman as young as she is. We got too much sense. An’ I’m free to admit that I’m rope shy--don’t like hobbles of any kind, a-tall. I’m a maverick, an’ aim to stay so. When is th’ weddin’ comin’ off?" "Purty soon, I reckon," replied Williams, his voice pleasanter than it had been since Tex had appeared in town. "She’s nat’rally a little skittish, an’ Hennery is sort of shy. Young folks usually are. He was tellin’ me you gave him some good advice." Tex laughed and shrugged his shoulders. "Don’t know how good it is," he replied. "An’ it wasn’t no advice. I just sort of mentioned to him somethin’ I found worked real well; but what works with one woman ain’t got no call to get stuck on itself--th’ odds ain’t in favor of its repeatin’. If it was me, howsomever, I’d shore try it a whirl. It can’t do no harm that I can see." "He’s goin’ to back it a little," responded Williams, "till he sees how it goes."