"You wall-eyed, mangy, rat-eatin' son of a gun, what have I been feedin' yuh fur all these years?
You come outa there! If it wasn't for the love uh God I got in my heart, I'll fill yuh so full of holes the coyotes'll have to make soup of ye! I'll sure spread yuh out so thin your hide'll measure up like a mountain lion! Don't yuh yowl at me like that! Come, kitty-kitty-kitty--ni-ice kitty! Come to your old pard what ketched yuh the fattest young dog on the flat for your dinner.

Come on, now; you ain't skeered uh me, shorely! Come on, Compadre--ni-ice kitty!" "Let me try!" cried Rosemary behind him, her voice startling old Applehead so that he knocked his head painfully on the rock foundation as he jerked himself into a more dignified posture.

His eyes widened at the size of the audience grouped behind him, but he had faced more amazing sights than that in his eventful career.

He got stiffly to his feet and bowed, the prairie dog dangling limply from his hand.
"Howdy! Howdy! Pleased to meet yuh," he greeted them dazedly.

Then he spied Luck standing half behind Weary's tall form, and his embarrassed smile changed to a joyful grin.