"You come back with us," grinned Pop. "We'll pool th' fish an' have a three-corner meal. Where was you goin'?" "To find you," chuckled Johnny. "I'm surprised at th' way you both neglects business." "Comin' from you that makes me laugh," snorted Pop. Charley grinned. "Did you see that whoppin' big feller I got? Bet it'll go three pounds." "Lucky if it's half that," grunted Pop. "If I'd 'a' got that one _I_ had hold of, we'd 'a' had a three-pounder, or mebby a four-pounder." Charley snorted. "Who ever heard of a four-pound brook trout? Been a brown, now, it might 'a' been that big." "Why, I caught 'em up to eight pounds, back East, when I was a kid!" retorted Pop. "Yo're a squaw's dog liar!" snapped Charley. "Eight-pound brook trout! You must 'a' snagged a turtle, or an old boot full of mud!" "Bet you five dollars!" retorted Pop, bristling. "How you goin' to prove it?" jeered Charley. "Call th' dead back to life to lie for you?" "Reckon I can't prove it," regretted Pop. "But when a man hangs around with a liar he shore gets th' name, too." "Nobody never called me a liar an' got off without a hidin'!" snapped Charley. "I may be sixty years old, but I can lick you an' yore whole fambly if you gets too smart!" Pop drew rein, his chin whiskers bobbing up and down. "I'm older'n that myself; but I don't need no relations to help me lick you! Get off that hoss, if you dares!" "Here! Here!" interposed Johnny. "What's th' use of you two old friends mussin' each other up? Come on! I'm in a hurry! I'm hungry!" "I won't go a step till he says I ain't no liar!" snapped Charley. "I won't go till he says I caught a eight-pound brook trout!" "Mebby he did--how do _I_ know what he did when he was a boy?" growled Charley, full of fight. "But I ain't no liar, an' that's flat!" "Who said you was, you old fool?" asked Pop heatedly. "You did!" "I didn't!" "You did!" "Yo're a liar!" "Yo're another!" "Get off that hoss!" "You ain't off yore own yet!" Johnny was holding his sides and Pop wheeled on him savagely. "What th' h--l _you_ laughin' at?" "That's what _I_ want to know!" blazed Charley. "Come on, Charley!" shouted Pop. "We'll eat them fish ourselves. It's a fine how-dy-do when age ain't respected no more. An' th' next time you goes around callin' folks liars," he said, shaking a trembling fist under Johnny's nose, "you needn't foller _us_ to do it on!" Down the trail they rode, angrily discussing Johnny, the times, and the manners of the younger generation. When Johnny arrived at the saloon and tried the door he found it locked. He could hear footsteps inside and he stepped back, chuckling, to wait until Pop had forgiven him; but after a few minutes he gave it up and went around to try the window of a side room. "What you think yo're doin'?" inquired a calm voice behind him. He wheeled and saw a man regarding him with level gaze, and across the street was a second, who sat on one horse and held fast to another.