“Anything’s so, when you says it is,” said Nomad. She shook her umbrella at Buffalo Bill. “You lied to me there in the town!” she vociferated. “You said you wasn’t Persimmon Pete, and you perfessed that you didn’t know nothing about where my ole man was! Now, what do ye say to that? When you left Eldorado I follered ye. And here I find you two together. What do ye say to that? Answer me!” The scout was laughing too much to reply as quickly as she wished, and this made her rave the more. “You are mistaken,” he said finally. “You don’t know this man?” “Oh, yes, I know him.” “He ain’t my lawful, wedded husband?” “I don’t know that he isn’t, of course. It only surprises me.” “Surprises ye, does it? Well, when I think of it, it surprises me, too. To think that I should ’a’ married a walkin’ shadder of a man like that, a living mummy that grins and acts like a baboon; and then that he should run away frum me, when I stood ready to lavish all my wifely love on him. Yes, it surprises me, too.” She glared at the scout. “Why did you tell me that you wasn’t Persimmon Pete?” “Because I am not.” “What!” she shrieked. “You deny it?” “Don’t deny anything, Buffler!” wailed Nomad. “It’ll be wuss fer ye. Admit everything she says. If she asks me ain’t I the man in the moon, I’m saying ‘yes’ to her every time.” “You are married to her?” said the scout. “Waugh! Buffler, she made me do it!” “If you ain’t Persimmon Pete,” she demanded of the scout, “who aire ye?” “My name is Cody. Sometimes I’m called Buffalo Bill.” “And that’s another lie!” she declared. “I know ye. You’re Persimmon Pete. But I’ll tell ye now, that I’m goin’ to take this man back with me, and he’ll live with me as my lovin’ husband, er I’ll kill him.” Nomad contrived to escape out of his corner while the infuriated woman talked with the scout and with Latimer, and when he had accomplished that he sprinted round the end of the wall. She gave chase immediately; and when she found that he had hid himself somewhere, she began to search for him, vowing that she would not rest until she had forced him to return with her to her home in Kansas City. She repeated her threat, as she made her furious search. “If he don’t go back with me, and live with me as my lovin’ husband, I’ll kill him. There ain’t goin’ to be no pore-deceived-and-weepin’-woman business with me now, you bet! I ain’t that kind of a hairpin! I’m a woman that knows her rights and is willin’ to fight fer ’em. And if he thinks he can hide, and that I’ll soon go away and leave him, why, then he is mightily mistaken.” “Your hostler seems to have got into a good deal of trouble,” the scout remarked to Latimer, as they returned to the house together, leaving Pizen Kate hunting for Nick Nomad. “Cody,” said Latimer, “that is the most absurd episode I ever saw, or knew about. I’m afraid that new hostler is a great rascal, in spite of what you informed me about him.”