They'd git a burro load of grub and go out somewheres and peck around till it was all et up, and then they'd come back an' tell Frenchy some wild tale about runnin' acrost what looked like the richest prospect in the country.

They'd go on about havin' all the indications of a big body uh rich ore.

He'd soak it in, an' they'd hang around town--one had a sore foot one time, I remember, that lasted 'em a month of good board at Frenchy's hotel before he drove 'em out agin to his mine, as he called it.
"They worked that scheme on him for a long time--and it was the only da-- scheme they wasn't too lazy to work.

They'd git money to buy powder an' fuse an' caps, ma'am, an' blow it on booze, y'see.

An' they'd hang in town, boardin' off Frenchy, jest as long as they c'ld think of an excuse fer stayin'.
"So somebody tipped Frenchy off that he was bein' worked for grub an' booze money, an' Frenchy done a lot uh thinkin'.