his more thoughtful partner. One day when we were at the Spooner place, Jake kept yelling at Ai’s dog. Every moment or two Jake would yell in a clear voice, that echoed in Drift Creek Canon, “Here, come back!” then turning to his partner, he’d say, “Ai, why don’t you make that dog come back?” Ai rode along, never paying the slightest attention. Strangely enough, each dog would obey his master, but wouldn’t pay any attention to the orders of the other. Finally Ai’s dog chased a steer for ten minutes and Jake cursed and called, but the dog kept on. Finally McClaine turned to Ai, demanded that he make his dog mind; whereupon, with a twinkle in his eye, Coolidge said, “I’ll give him to you, you make him mind.” Coolidge’s dog had been caught in a steel trap when he was a small pup and had one toe missing on a forefoot. The dog would travel all day on three legs and did, all the balance of his life, except when he saw a squirrel, then he seemed to forget all about his once sore foot and ran like any other dog, and this was an opportunity for Jake McClaine, as he would argue with his silent partner for fifteen minutes at a time
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