An' yet on the other, now that
the Ranger stood there, it struck me as natural enough.
"'If you heard I was lookin' for you, you sure heard what for,' replied
Blome.
"'Blome, my experience with such men as you is that you all brag one
thing behind my back an' you mean different when I show up. I've called
you now. What do you mean?'
"'I reckon you know what Jack Blome means.'
"'Jack Blome! That name means nothin' to me. Blome, you've been braggin'
around that you'd meet me--kill me! You thought you meant it, didn't
you?'
"'Yes--I did mean it.'
"'All right. Go ahead!'
"The barroom became perfectly still, except for the slow breaths I
heard. There wasn't any movement anywhere. That queer gray came to
Blome's face again. He might again have been stone. I thought, an' I'll
gamble every one else watchin' thought, Blome would draw an' get killed
in the act. But he never moved. Steele had cowed him. If Blome had been
heated by drink, or mad, or anythin' but what he was just then, maybe he
might have throwed a gun. But he didn't. I've heard of really brave men
gettin' panicked like that, an' after seein' Steele I didn't wonder at
Blome.
"'You see, Blome, you don't want to meet me, for all your talk,' went on
the Ranger.
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