Chapter X

56

STRANGE FISH

“Listen, you shyster lawyer, you were telling that lie so you could pull the same thing on me. I almost fell into the trap, too,” Monk told him.

“Both of you,” Doc said, “listen to me.”

He sounded sufficiently irritated that he got their attention immediately.

“You're itching to start one of your interminable quarrels,” Doc said. “Stop it. Stop it right now. As you two get older, those fusses grow more violent. They take your mind off your business.”

Monk and Ham were silent.

Doc examined them to see if they resented his interference, decided they didn't, and continued.

“Johnny Toms,” he said, “has a belonesox.”

Monk and Ham were at once violently interested. “The mysterious fish, you mean?” Monk demanded.

“I don't know whether it is the fish or not,” Doc told them. “But it is a belonesox.”

He explained how he had watched Johnny Toms in his cabin, deviling the fish with the arrow, then taking it out to examine it so intently.

Ham said, “I didn't trust that one−worded Indian the minute I saw him.”

“Me either,” Monk agreed.

Doc expressed no opinion. He felt that Monk and Ham's opinion on the point wasn't worth a great deal, both of them being jealous of Johnny Toms. There wasn't any reason for the jealousy, Doc believed. Paris seemed to show no emotional interest in Toms.

“We didn't,” Doc reminded them, “get much sleep ourselves last night. I suggest that we sleep a little. By relays. I'll stay awake for a while, then one of you can take my place.”

“What about the fish?” Monk demanded.

“It was nothing but a fish, as far as I could tell.”

“You get a close look at it?”

“No. But I plan to before we leave here.”

“Incidentally,” Monk said, “when do we leave here?”

Doc shook his head. “The cowboys and the Indians are scouting the neighborhood. We'll wait and learn whether they find anything.”

Satisfied, Monk and Ham went off to bed. Doc heard them formally agreeing to take different bedrooms, although the previous arrangement had been for them to bunk in the same room. They were as polite as two ambassadors.