After supper the two guests had relapsed into a silence which endured only as long as the pleasing fulness. Then the squabbling began again, growing worse until they fell silent from lack of adequate expression. Finally Red once again spoke of their absent friend.
“We oughtn't get peevish, Hoppy--he's only thirty-six hours late,” suggested Red. “An' he might be a week,” he added thoughtfully, as his mind ran back over a long list of Johnny's misdeeds.
“Yes, he might. An' won't he have a fine cock-an'-bull tale to explain it,” growled Hopalong, reminiscently. “His excuses are the worst part of it generally.”
“Eh, does he--make excuses?” asked Dent, mildly surprised.
“He does to _us_,” retorted Red savagely. “He's worse than a woman; take him all in all an' you've got the toughest proposition that ever wore pants. But he's a good feller, at that.”
“Well, you've got a lot of nerve, you have!” retorted Hopalong. “You don't want to say anything about the Kid--if there's anybody that can beat him in being late an' acting the fool generally, it's you. An' what's more, you know it!”
Red wheeled to reply, but was interrupted by a sudden uproar outside, fluent swearing coming towards the house. The door opened with a bang, admitting a white-faced, big-eyed man with one leg jammed through the box he had landed on in dismounting.
“Gimme a drink, quick!” he shouted wildly, dragging the box over to the bar with a cheerful disregard for chairs and other temporary obstructions. “Gimme a drink!” he reiterated.
“Give you six hops in the neck!” yelled Red, missing and almost sitting down because of the enthusiasm he had put into his effort. Johnny side-stepped and ducked, and as he straightened up to ask for whys and wherefores, Red's eyes opened wide and he paused in his further intentions to stare at the apparition.
“Sick?” queried Hopalong, who was frightened.
“Gimme that drink!” demanded Johnny feverishly, and when he had it he leaned against the bar and mopped his face with a trembling hand.
“What's the matter with you, anyhow?” asked Red, with deep anxiety.
“Yes; for God's sake, what's happened to you?” demanded Hopalong.
Johnny breathed deeply and threw back his shoulders as if to shake off a weight. “Fellers, I had a cougar soft-footing after me in that dark canyon, my cayuse ran away on a two-foot ledge up the wall,_--an'--I--saw--a--ghost_!”