“A little more such talk and yuh won’t have to be a actor to get
breakfast in bed,” states Chuck. “Keep it up, and you’ll have all your
meals in bed. If you wants to hear me say what I think about you being
a actor you got to come outside. I got too much respect for the
bunk-house to express myself here.”
This day being Monday, we has to put up with that kind of conversation
until Tuesday afternoon, when Chuck opines that he’s going up to
Piperock. Chuck can’t stand prosperity, and Tuesday is payday. He’s a
roulette fiend, and he runs into bad luck every time he bucks a wheel
in Paradise, so he wearies his bronc with monthly trips to Piperock.
Once he won eight dollars up there. It cost him forty but he never
figured that side of the ledger.
Anyway we wishes him many happy returns of the day, and he lopes away.
As he forks his bronc he grins at Telescope, and says:
“To be a good actor, yuh got to imagine you’re the party you’re
imitating. Just think you’re ‘Slippery’ Silverton, Telescope. He’s a
good pattern to go by. Sabe?”
Slippery sure ain’t no imitation. He’s had the Montana officers
buffaloed for so long that they think he’s more than one man. The
accumulated rewards for him look like the weekly clean-up at the U. S.
mint.
Me and Muley wishes to see the proceedings, so we rides down to
Paradise the next day with Telescope, and has converse with Archibald
Ames. He squints at the sky and shakes his head.
“I doubt it,” says he. “Too cloudy. Yuh can’t get snappy stuff in
atmosphere like this, and there can’t be no retake. We’ll let her go
until tomorrow. I may set up after a while and get some character
stuff. Lots of local color around here. Good characters, and the
background is great. Know what I mean?”
“Perfectly,” says I. “Sheep-herders and so forth.”
Telescope opines that old man Bowers’ ranch is calling him, so a
little later on he rides away, he and Muley horns into a poker game,
and about an hour later Archibald Ames invades the place and leans
against the bar. Mike Pelly leaves the table to serve him, but Archie
ain’t dry. He asks a question—
“Can you tell me where I can get some raw beef?”
He turns to us, and we sees the most wonderful black eye yuh ever
seen.
“Holy henhawks!” I snorts. “What yuh been doing?”
“I’ll tell yuh,” snorts “Doughgod” Smith, from the doorway. “He’s been
exhibiting his danged ignorance. He opines to get a picture of a
shepherd and he picked me!”
“Doughgod ain’t no shepherd,” I explains to Archie.
“This is a —— of a time to tell me!” wails Archie, and he goes across
the street to a restaurant.
The next we sees of him he’s taking a picture of a rackful of broncs
and then he goes over and photygrafts a greaser kid and a dog.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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