MR. SCRAGGS INTRODUCED BY RED SAUNDERS By HENRY WALLACE PHILLIPS Author of "Red Saunders," "Plain Mary Smith," etc. THE GRAFTON PRESS PUBLISHERS NEW YORK Copyright, 1903, 1904, 1905, by The Curtis Publishing Co. Copyright, 1903, by S. S. McClure Co. Copyright, 1905, by The Grafton Press Published January, 1906 Second edition February, 1906 CONTENTS I. BY PROXY II. IN THE TOILS III. ST. NICHOLAS SCRAGGS IV. THE SIEGE OF THE DRUG STORE V. THE MOURNFUL NUMBER VI. MR. SCRAGGS INTERVENES VII. THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS "Made any other human countenance I ever see look like a nigger-minstrel show" "He was disappointed in love--he had to be" "Scraggsy looked like a forlorn hope lost in a fog" "'Dearly beloved Brethren,' says I" "Put up a high-grade article of cat-fight" "You will talk to my ol' man like that, will you?" "So we rode in, right cheerful" "I was all over that Injun" MR. SCRAGGS INTRODUCED BY RED SAUNDERS BY PROXY I had met Mr. Scraggs, shaken him by the hand, and, in the shallow sense of the word, knew him. But a man is more than clothes and a bald head. It is also something of a trick to find out more about him--particularly in the cow country. One needs an interpreter. Red furnished the translation. After that, I nurtured Mr. Scraggs's friendship, for the benefit of humanity and philosophy. Saunders and I lay under a bit of Bad Lands, soaking in the spring sun, and enjoying the first cigarette since breakfast. In regard to things in general, he said: