"No."

He drawled both the affirmative and the negative and there was something
subtly insolent in his tone--something that aroused more ire than a
cruder retort would have accomplished. He turned his back on the cursing
man and went on down to the bridge. He waited there for a time and
watched the drift of foam on the fretted waters. The steady burbling of
the stream made him oblivious to other sounds and he did not hear the
two men approach. They leaped on him and seized him. One of his captors
was the paunchy man, and his hands were heavy and his fingers gripped
viciously.

"No wonder you wouldn't work! You're making your living in an easier
way."

"What is the occasion of this effusive welcome to your city?" asked
Farr.

The man who held one of the captive's arms was panting. He had run at
top speed from the house to which he and his mates had borne the injured
man.

"You thief! You sneak! Eat a man's grub, his hard-earned grub, and steal
when his wife's back is turned!"

"Of all dirty work this job is the worst," declared the big man.

"She gave you all you could stuff into yourself, you loafer. You
ransacked when her back was turned. You even stole her husband's Sunday