That
horse will--"
"Say, you're stealing my thunder," drawled Dade, grinning. "That's my
privilege, to sing Surry's praises. Haven't I told you, right along,
that he's a wonder?"
"Well, you told the truth for once in your life, anyway. Get up, you
lazy devil, and come out and take a look at him. I'm going to have Diego
give him a bath, soon as the sun gets hot enough. I've got a color
scheme that will make these natives bug their eyes out! And Surry's got
to be considerably whiter than snow--"
"Huh!" Dade was watching him closely while he listened. For all Jack's
exuberance of speech, there was the hard look in his eyes still; and
there was a line between his eyebrows which Dade had never noticed there
before, except as a temporary symptom of anger. He had, Dade remembered,
failed to make any statement of his intentions toward Jose; which was
not like Jack, who was prone to speak impulsively and bluntly his mind.
Also, it occurred to Dade that he had not once mentioned Teresita,
although, before the rodeo his talk had been colored with references to
the girl.
"Oh, how's the senorita, by the way?" Dade asked deliberately.
"All right," returned Jack promptly, with a rising inflection, "Are you
going to get up, or shall I haul you out by the heels?"
Dade, observing an evasion of that subject also, did some hard thinking
while he obediently pulled on his clothes. But he said not a word more
about the duel, or Jose's love-tragedy, or Teresita.
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