"It doesn't pay to take chances with your kind," retorted the foreman
hotly.
"No," mocked Patches, "but it will pay big, I suppose, for the great
'Wild Horse Phil' to be branded as a sneak and a coward who is afraid to
face an unarmed man unless he can get the drop on him?"
Phil was goaded to madness by the cool, mocking words. With a reckless
laugh, he slipped his weapon into the holster and sprang to the ground.
At the same moment Patches and Joe lowered their hands, and Joe,
unnoticed by either of the angry men, took a few stealthy steps toward
his horse.
Phil, deliberately folding his arms, stood looking at Patches.
"I'll just call that bluff, you sneakin' calf stealer," he said coolly.
"Now, unlimber that gun of yours, and get busy."
Angry as he was, Patches felt a thrill of admiration for the man, and
beneath his determination to force Phil Acton to treat him with respect,
he was proud of his friend who had answered his sneering insinuation
with such fearlessness. But he could not now hesitate in his plan of
provoking Phil into disarming himself.
"You're something of a four-flusher yourself, aren't you?" he mocked.
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