His face was burning now, his hands were twitching, and an unnatural gleam had come into his eyes.
"Ferguson got hooked by a rattler!" he suddenly exclaimed, hilarity in his voice.

"He run plum into that reptile; tried to walk on him with a bare foot." The laugh was checked as suddenly as it had come, and a grim quality entered his voice.

"But Ferguson wasn't no tenderfoot--he didn't scare none.

He went right on, not sayin' anything.

You see, he was reckonin' to be man's size." He rode on a little way, and as he entered another clearing a rational gleam came into his eyes.