"If it were me--if our positions were reversed I mean--I should kick you down into the creek there." The cold, blue eyes--that had been measuring the painter so shrewdly--twinkled with a hint of humor.

"You _do_ look like a gentleman, you know," the officer said,--as if excusing himself for not following the artist's suggestion.

"But, all the same, you must explain.

Who are you ?" "That part is easy, at least," returned the other.

"Though the circumstance of our meeting _is_ a temptation to lie." "Which would do you no good, and might lead to unpleasant complications," retorted the Ranger, sharply.
The man under question, still embarrassed, laughed shortly, as he returned, "I really was not thinking of it seriously.