'268 A Double-Dyed Deceiver
concession of any sort, you'll want somebody who knows the ropes to look out for you/ 5
"I speak Spanish/' said the Kid, "about nine times better than I do English. Every- body speaks it on the range where I come from. And I'm not in the market for any- thing/'
"You speak Spanish?" said Thacker thoughtfully. He regarded the Kid absorb- edly.
"You look like a Spaniard, too," he con- tinued, *" And you're from Texas. And you can't be more than twenty or twenty-one. I wonder if you've got any nerve."
"You got a deal of some kind to put through?" asked the Texan, with unexpected shrewdness.
"Are you open to a proposition?" said Thacker.
"What's the use to deny it?" said the Kid. "I got into a little gun frolic down in Laredo and plugged a white man. There wasn't any Mexican handy. And I come down to your parrot-and-monkey range just for to smell the morning-glories and marigolds. Now, do you sale ?"
Thacker got up and closed the door.
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