As if conscious that it was being talked about, the burro lifted its head and eyed the four mournfully, its ears loosely flopping.
"How ?" questioned Paw, waggling his beard disparagingly.

"Spit 'n 'is eye ?" "Talk 'm t' death," Hank guessed with imbecile shrewdness.
"Think-I-can't?
What'll--y'bet ?" They disputed the point with drunken insistence and mild imprecations, Hank and Paw and Joe at various times siding impartially for and against Casey.

Casey gathered the impression that none of them believed him.

They seemed to think he didn't know what he was talking about.

They even questioned the fact that his head was level.