Short Stories
I'm older, an' I ain't ridin' range."
He got into bed on one side. Jim put out the light and fol-
lowed him in the other side.
'How's your arm feel ?" Jim queried amiably.
Such concern was unusual, and Matt noted it, and
replied:—
'I guess there's no danger of hydrophoby. What made you
ask?"
Jim felt in himself a guilty stir, and under his breath he
cursed the other's way of asking disagreeable questions; but
aloud he answered:—
Nothin', only you seemed scared of it at first. What are you
goin' to do with your share, Matt?"
Buy a cattle ranch in Arizona an' set down an' pay other
men to ride range for me. There's some several I'd like to see
askin' for a job from me! An' now you shut your face, Jim. It'll
be some time before I buy that ranch. Just now I'm goin' to
sleep."
But Jim lay long awake, nervous and twitching, rolling about
restlessly and rolling himself wide awake every time he dozed.
The diamonds still blazed under his eyelids, and the fire of them
hurt. Matt, in spite of his heavy nature, slept lightly, like a wild
animal alert in its sleep; and Jim noticed, every time he moved,
that his partner's body moved sufficiently to show that it had re-
ceived the impression and that it was trembling on the verge of
awakening. For that matter, Jim did not know whether or not,
frequently, the other was awake. Once, quietly, betokening com-
plete consciousness, Matt said to him: "Aw, go to sleep, Jim.
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