"Don't shoot," he called. "I'll promise to be good and never do it
again--not till the next time, that is."
"All right," laughed Bert, "we'll suspend sentence this time, but at the
next offense we won't be so lenient, will we, Dick?"
"Not by a long shot," said Dick; "we'll toe him along at the end of a
lariat if he does, that's all." He grinned feebly as he got off this
atrocious pun, but Bert and Tom refused to be beguiled into smiling.
"I never thought it of you, Dick, honest I didn't," mourned Bert, sadly
shaking his head. "I naturally expect such things from Tom, but I had a
better opinion of you. I suppose I'll have to let bygones be bygones, but
just the same you deserve nothing less than ptomaine poisoning as
punishment."
At this Tom and Dick gave utterance to a howl of execration that made
their horses jump, and two tightly rolled sombreros came flying toward
Bert's head. But he ducked just in time, and then had a good laugh as Tom
and Dick were forced to dismount and secure their misused headgear.
Soon his two friends were back in the saddle, however, and then they set
off at a steady trot, discussing in a more serious vein the probability
of such an uprising as Mr.
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