Mr. Townsend pocketed the one bid, surveyed glumly the hilarious crowd
flocking in to the bar to drink to their joy in his defeat, and wandered
disconsolately back to the pound. He was never again seen in that
locality, or by any of the citizens of Rawhide, for between dark and
dawn he resumed his travels, bound for some locality far removed from
limping, red-headed drawbacks.
CHAPTER XV
JOHNNY LEARNS SOMETHING
For several weeks after Hopalong got back to the ranch, full of
interesting stories and minus the grouch, things went on in a way placid
enough for the most peacefully inclined individual that ever sat a
saddle. And then trouble drifted down from the north and caused a look
of anxiety to spoil Buck Peters' pleasant expression, and began to show
on the faces of his men. When one finds the carcasses of two cows on the
same day, and both are skinned, there can be only one conclusion. The
killing and skinning of two cows out of herds that are numbered by
thousands need not, in themselves, bring lines of worry to any foreman's
brow; but there is the sting of being cheated, the possibility of the
losses going higher unless a sharp lesson be given upon the folly
of fooling with a very keen and active buzz-saw,--and it was the
determination of the outfit of the Bar-20 to teach that lesson, and as
quickly as circumstances would permit.
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