"I was only
just saying to the sheriff that if there was anything I could have done
for you, you wouldn't have cut away without letting me know." Tucker
glanced uneasily at Patterson, who continued, "Ye ain't wanting anything
else?" Then observing that his former friend and patron was roughly but
newly clothed, and betrayed no trace of his last escapade, he added, "I
see you've got a fresh harness."
"That d----d Chinaman bought me these at the landing; they're not
much in style or fit," he continued, trying to get a moonlight view of
himself in the mirror behind the bar, "but that don't matter here." He
filled another glass of spirits, jauntily settled himself back in his
chair, and added, "I don't suppose there are any girls around, anyway."
"'Cept your wife; she was down here this afternoon," said Patterson
meditatively.
Mr. Tucker paused with the pie in his hand. "Ah, yes!" He essayed a
reckless laugh, but that evident simulation failed before Patterson's
melancholy. With an assumption of falling in with his friend's manner,
rather than from any personal anxiety, he continued, "Well?"
"That man Poindexter was down here with her.
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