"Me, too. Baldy scared me sober," Toothpick agreed. "I'm goin' to buy that hobo drinks aplenty, 'cause he sure stopped Baldy from hurtin' my feelings." "Sure did. But I'm tellin' yuh that Bill Anderson is some nervy hombre, runnin' in on a sidewinder rattler like that toothless old ape. Folks says he's a grafter, but I'll vote for a coyote, if he tells me to, just because he made that Baldy draw in his horns," Windy confided. Toothpick did not reply. He was puzzling out an answer to a riddle. Why had Baldy backed down, when Anderson confronted him? He left Windy and Tad Hicks at the Lone Star and then went to look for Jim Anson. "That little runt sure saved my reputation, an' he can have half of my bed, even if he is a dirty little tramp," he told himself. He wandered about, searching bar after bar. At last he discovered the hobo asleep in Maria's. Before him on the table stood a half-empty bottle. Toothpick shook him awake. However, Anson refused to move until they had finished the bottle. Toothpick was agreeable because he was now stone sober. They had emptied the bottle when, to their surprise, Anderson stepped out of the back room. His face clouded when he saw them. "Darned good of yuh, Mr. Anderson, to steer Baldy away to-night," Toothpick called. Anderson smiled genially. "That's nothing. Is that the little bum who just discovered guns are loaded?" he asked. Toothpick nodded. "Who is he?" "A hobo what got hisself thrown off the train this evenin'." Anderson called good night and left. The moment he was gone Jim Anson grasped Toothpick's arm and staggered out with him. To better support the drunken hobo, Toothpick slipped a hand beneath his armpit. He jerked the hand away suddenly. "Say, who are you?" he demanded. "Yuh got a gun there in a shoulder holster, and yuh made believe yuh didn't savvy guns." The hobo dropped his stagger and stood erect. "Where's my hosses, Toothpick?" he asked softly. Toothpick jumped; the whine had left that voice, and he knew it now. "Gosh! Jim-twin Allen!" he whispered. Allen laughed. "Huh! That's what Snippets meant by callin' me stupid," said Toothpick. "Yuh sure got everybody fooled except her." "Maybe so," Allen said indifferently. "I give the brakeman five bucks to throw me off that train." The two rode together out of town toward the lava fields. "Why for did yuh watch Anderson at Maria's to-night?" asked Toothpick. "'Cause I was plumb curious to savvy why Anderson went in that back room and come out with straw on his boots. Is there a stable in that block?" "Yeh. They's one behind the Red Queen." "Thought so," Allen grunted sleepily. CHAPTER IV SONS OF THE DEVIL