"I got one."
"Where'd you get him?"
"Stole him," Ellis replied tersely.
Joe stood rooted in his tracks. Ellis's statement hit him like a
thunderbolt. He licked dry lips.
"That's right," Ellis said. "A couple of trappers have about forty mules
in a corral up the trail. When I asked them to sell me one they didn't
seem interested. I waited until nightfall and took one." He fixed Joe
with a tired and angry glare. "Any complaints?"
Joe's jaw worked. The boy's headstrong action, and the cool way he told
about it, frightened Joe anew. What other willful and dishonest actions
was he capable of? What was his Bobby getting into?