"Well, well," replied the sheriff, grinning and simulating surprise. "If here ain't Tex Williard, too! What's your pet psalm, sonny? Good God, what a face!" "What's that got to do with this?" asked Tex, intently watching for war. "Oh, nothing, nothing at all," replied the sheriff. "But, Lord, that cayuse of yours can shore kick! Was you tickling it? They do go off like that some times. Any of your nose coming out the back of your head yet? But to reply to your touching inquiry, I'll say that the psalm might work in handy after while, that's all. If you'll only tell me, I'll see that it is sung over your grave. But, honest, how did you get that face?" "That'll just about do for yu!" cried the cowboy, angrily. "An' sit still, yu!" he added. "Say, bub," confidentially said Shields, "my stomach itches like blazes. Can't I scratch it, just once?" "No! Think I'm a fool!" yelled Tex, his finger tightening on the trigger. "Yu sit still, d----n yu!" "Well, I only wanted to see just how much of a fool you really are," grinned the sheriff exasperatingly. "Judging from your present position I must say that I thought you didn't have any sense at all, but now I reckon you've got a few brains after all. But suppose you scratch it for me, hey? Just rub it easy like with your left paw." Tex swore luridly, too tense to realize what a fool the sheriff was making of him. He could think of only one thing at a time, and he was thinking very hard about the sheriff's hands. "Tut, tut, don't take it so hard," jeered the sheriff, smiling pleasantly. "Now that I know that you are some rational, suppose you tell me the joke? What's the secret? Who skinned his shin? What in thunder is all this artillery saluting me for?" "Since yu want to know, I'll tell yu, all right," replied Tex. "Why are yu an' Th' Orphant so d----d thick? Don't be all day about it?" "You d----d excuse!" responded the sheriff. "You mere accident! As the poet said, it's none of your business! Catch that?" "Yes, I caught it," retorted Tex. "I reckon we needs a new sheriff, an' d----d soon, too," he added venomously. "Well, people don't always get what they need," replied Shields easily. "If they did, you would get yours right now, and good and hard, too," he explained, making ready to put up the hardest fight of his life. Three men had him covered, and he knew they would all shoot if he made a move, for they had placed themselves in a desperate situation and could not back out now. He knew that never before had he been in so tight a hole, but he trusted to luck and his own quickness to crawl out with a whole skin. If he was killed, he would have company across the Great Divide; of that he was certain. "I reckon I'll take yore guns for a while, just to be doin' somethin'," Tex said as he advanced a step. "Mebby that itch will go away then."