"Well," drawled Selden, "they ain't any such thing as a Poison Oaker Gang. That there's all hot air. It's true that Obed Pence and Jay Muenster and Buchanan and Allegan and Foss run what cows they got with ourn, and they're pretty good friends o' my boys an' me. But as fer us bein' a gang--why, they's nothin' to it. Nothin' to it a-tall! Just because we use a poison-oak leaf for our brand--why, that's what got 'em to callin' us the Poison Oakers. And when anything mean is done in this country, why, they gotta hang it onto somebody--and as a lot of 'em don't like me and my friends, why, they hang it onto us and call us the Poison Oakers. Now that there ain't right and just, is it, Mr. Drew?" "When you put it that way," Oliver evaded, "I should say that it is not." "No, sir, it ain't--not a-tall! An' I'm glad ye understand and ain't got no hard feelin's." There was another long pause. Fragrant tobacco smoke floated to Jessamy's nostrils. "If I ain't too bold in askin', Mr. Drew--what was ol' Damon Tamroy fillin' yer ear with about me today?" "He was telling me how Old Dad Sloan had spoken of your having once danced the fire dance." "Uh-huh! Just so! Some o' my friends overheard Old Dad spoutin' about it after I'd hit the feathers. Well, I don't reckon I care any. It's nothin' to try to hide. Was that all Tamroy had to say?" Jessamy could imagine on Oliver Drew's lips the grave, half-whimsical smile that she had seen twitching them so often. She waited eagerly for his reply. "I think that the subject you mention is all that he talked to me about," it came at last. "Just so! Just so!" muttered Selden. "But didn't he say as how others had danced the fire dance besides me and you?" "Yes, he mentioned others." "Just so! And who, now--if I ain't too bold in askin'." "Let me see," said Oliver after a pause. "Some other man's name was mentioned. A short name, if I remember correctly." "Uh-huh! Plumb forget her, eh?" "It seems to me it was Smeed, or something like that. Yes--Dan Smeed." Silence. Again tobacco smoke was wafted over the ferns. "Dan Smeed, eh?" ruminated Selden finally. "Mr. Drew, did ye ever hear that name before Damon Tamroy said it to ye?" Another thoughtful intermission; then-- "Yes, I had heard it before." "Just so! Just so! And if I ain't too bold in askin'--just where, Mr. Drew?" "Why, I heard it first from Old Dad Sloan himself. Miss Selden and I rode over to his cabin one morning, and we got him to talking of the days of 'Forty-nine. He can be quite interesting when he doesn't wander." "Uh-huh! And ye say ye heard the name Dan Smeed over to Old Dad Sloan's fer the first time?" "Yes, sir." "_The first time in yer life, Mr. Drew?_" "Yes. I had never heard of it until then." A short, low snort from Selden. Jessamy knew it well. It signified: "I don't believe you!"