Friend, eh? Well, mebbe. But you noticed that he didn't
offer to shake hands with Taggart. An' he wouldn't drink. Reached his
capacity! He had four in here. Sober as a judge! Did you notice his
eyes? They fair made me shiver when he looked at me when I was talkin'
about his old man. I'm goin' to be damn careful about my palaver after
this. Friend! Well, if I wasn't his friend I'd be damn careful not to
rile him!"
Outside Dade halted, white hot with rage.
"I reckon I ain't got no job with you, you white-livered--"
The muzzle of Calumet's forty-five, magically produced, it seemed, so
quickly did it show in his hand, was making an icy ring against Dade's
throat, and the words, the epithet for which he had hesitated, remained
unspoken. Metallic, venomous and filled with a threat of death came
Calumet's voice.
"You sufferin' fool!" he said, the words writhing through his lips, his
eyes blazing. "It's my game, do you hear? An' if you gas another word
about it I'll tear you apart!"
"He was blackguardin' Betty," objected Dade, his face ashen, but his
spirit still undaunted. "He was blackguardin' her an' you made friends
with him. I'd have salivated him if I'd thought you wasn't goin' to.
I'm goin' back there now an'--"
Calumet stepped back a pace and cocked his six-shooter.
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