"Three years. That ain't much."
"No. It was a light sentence," replied the Easterner as he unbuckled
his spurs. "Seems there was a good deal of sympathy for him in
Romper."
"If the bartender had been any good," observed the cowboy
thoughtfully, "he would have gone in and cracked that there Dutchman
on the head with a bottle in the beginnin' of it and stopped all
this here murderin'."
"Yes, a thousand things might have happened," said the Easterner
tartly.
The cowboy returned his pan of pork to the fire, but his
philosophy continued. "It's funny, ain't it? If he hadn't said Johnnie
was cheatin' he'd be alive this minute. He was an awful fool. Game
played for fun, too. Not for money. I believe he was crazy."
"I feel sorry for that gambler," said the Easterner.
"Oh, so do I," said the cowboy. "He don't deserve none of it for
killin' who he did."
"The Swede might not have been killed if everything had been
square."
"Might not have been killed?" exclaimed the cowboy. "Everythin'
square? Why, when he said that Johnnie was cheatin' and acted like
such a jackass? And then in the saloon he fairly walked up to git
hurt?" With these arguments the cowboy browbeat the Easterner and
reduced him to rage.
"You're a fool!" cried the Easterner viciously. "You're a bigger
jackass than the Swede by a million majority. Now let me tell you
one thing. Let me tell you something.
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