He leaped
on one and the bully leaped on the other, and in a moment more both were
off for the Merwell ranch.
"Well, youngster, I reckon you can hold your own," remarked Mr. Hooper.
He had led a rough-and-tumble life himself and did not look on a fight
as a dreadful matter. "You had him going."
"So you did, Dave," added Sid Todd, while several other cowboys nodded
in assent.
"He forced the fight," answered Dave. "I suppose he'll try it again some
day."
"Merwell always was scrappy," said one of the cowboys.
"Takes after his dad," added another; and then there was a general
laugh. Several came up to shake hands with Dave and congratulate him on
the outcome of the little bout. Some of the cowboys were not very
refined, and to them such a fist-fight seemed a great thing.
There were a number of letters for those at Star Ranch, including two
for Dave,--from his father and from Ben Basswood. With the epistles in
their pockets, Dave and Sid Todd started on the return to the Endicott
place. They had to follow, for some distance, the trail taken by Link
and Snogger, their road branching off after the bridge over the river
was crossed.
Considerable time had been lost waiting for the train and because of the
set-to with Merwell, and the sun was now going down over the mountains
in the west, casting long shadows over the plains.
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