He come in on three legs, and toward the last them three like to went back on him." "Which hoss ?" asked Billy, though he felt pessimistically that he knew without being told.

The Pilgrim's answer confirmed his pessimism.

Of course, it was the only gentle horse they had.
"Say, Billy, I forgot your tobacco," drawled the Pilgrim, after a very short silence which Billy used for much rapid thinking.
Ordinarily, Billy would have considered the over sight as something of a catastrophe, but he passed it up as an unpleasant detail and turned to the girl.

"It's storming something fierce," he told her in an exceedingly matter-of-fact way, "but I think it'll let up by daylight so we can tackle it.

Right now it's out of the question; so we'll have another supper--a regular blowout this time, with coffee and biscuits and all those luxuries.