As he had told Pocus Pete he was going to regard Mr. Carson as his father
--he had thought of him so many years in that relationship that it was
difficult to think otherwise.

"Well, you be careful of what you do, Dave; that's my advice t' you," said
Pete.

"Why so? I'm not afraid of Len Molick," was Dave's quick response.

"No, maybe not. Yet Len trails in with a middlin' mean crowd, an' though
you are pretty good, you're no match for Whitey Wasson an' his bunch of
cowpunchers."

"But my quarrel is with Len, for I'm sure he did this."

"That's all right. I have a sneakin' suspicion that way myself, but Len is
a coward, as well as a bully, an' he'd howl for help if you went at him.
An' Whitey is just th' kind t' pitch in on you if he saw you givin' Len a
drubbin'. So you take my advice, an' go a bit slow."

"I will. I won't have it out with Len until I can get him alone somewhere,
and then I'll put it up to him."

"Well, maybe that's a good way, though I don't approve of fightin' as a
rule."

"Oh, no! You don't!" laughed Dave, for it was a well known fact that Pocus
Pete was considered the best man with his fists in that section of the
country.