"I reckon 'at kids are pretty much like colts an' puppies an' other young things: give 'em dolls to play with an' they'll play like children, but start 'em out on cards an' ponies, an' range 'em off with nothin' but grown folks, an' they're bound to have ways like grown folks'." Jabez fidgeted around a while, an' then he sez, "Are you goin' to try to catch the pinto? "I am goin' to catch it," sez I, rollin' a cigarette. He kind o' nervoused around a few minutes longer an' then he sez, "What did you mean a while ago?" "Jest whatever I said," sez I. "I don't know what you're a-referrin' to, but if I said it, that's what I meant." "When I asked you to rope the pinto you told me to git one o' my own men to rope it; what does that mean?" "It means that when a man tells me that hell can't hide me from his wrath, I 'm free to consider myself foot loose. A man don't want to slaughter none of his own hands, an' if it should be that any one feels called upon to go after my hide, I don't want to feel that the time I 'm wastin' in takin' care o' that hide rightfully belongs to another man who is payin' for it. Therefore I have quit. I'm goin' to rope the pinto for Barbie, but I wouldn't do it for you, an' when I get back I'll call around for what's comin' to me." "Well, go an' be hanged! You always was the most obstinate, high-headed, bull-intellected thin-skin 'at ever drew down top wages for punchin' cows. You're nothin' more than a kid, an' yet you swell around an' expect a man--" "Well, I don't expect nothin' from you, ceptin' my wages," sez I. "You go to Jericho, will you!" snaps Jabez. "You don't need to think that I'd try to argue any man on earth into workin' for me. I can get an army o' riders as good or better than you--but the gel likes you, Happy, an'--" "An' that's why I 'm goin' after the pinto," sez I, an' I flopped onto a pony an' sailed out to a little glen in the foothills where I knew I 'd find him, an' as soon as I had towed him back to the corral I put my saddle on the old beast I had rode there an' set off. Just as I rode around the edge o' the corral, ol' man Judson stood there grittin' his teeth. "What are you ridin' that old skin for?" sez he. "'Cause it's the only pony I got," sez I. "You leave it here an' take your pick out o' the five-year-olds," sez he. "All I want out o' this ranch is what I have earned," sez I. "If you don't get something 'at your pride'll earn some day, I'm the biggest fool this side o' the big ditch. Here's your pay. You've been a fair hand, but don't forget that I never hire a man twice, an' I've hired you once already."