I hurdled the sea-wall like an antelope, and before they
got eyes on me I was into my bath-house.
"When I'd got dressed, I sneaked up to the Galvez for a drink. In
the bar were a lot of stockmen, and they asked me where I'd been.
I told 'em I'd been nursing a sick lodge member, and they said:
"'Too bad! You missed the damnedest fight since Custer was licked.
We couldn't get very close, for the jam, but it was great!'
"The story went all over Galveston. The husband swore he'd kill
the man who attacked his wife, and the newspapers called on the
police to discover the ruffian."
There was a protracted silence; then Law controlled his voice
sufficiently to say: "It's fortunate he didn't recognize you to-
night."
"Maybe he did. Anyhow, his wife is the new dressmaker Paloma's
hired. I 'ain't got a chance, Dave. That story will ruin me in the
community, and Paloma will turn me out when she learns I'm a--a
lady-pincher."
"What are you going to do about it?"
Blaze sighed. "I don't know, yet. Probably I'll end by running
from those scorpions, like I did before."
The next morning at breakfast Paloma announced, "Father, you must
help Dave hunt down these cattle thieves.
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