“I fust met Jim at Angel’s Camp, about three years ago. I was prospectin’ round in Calaveras county, an’ used ter make my headquarters at Angel’s. “I used ter booze a lot in them days--mor’n I do now, Doc. I guess my hide was stretchier then, an’ used ter hold more. I was allus a leetle bit excitable when I was drunk, an’ everlastin’ly gittin’ inter trouble. That’s how I fell in with Jim. “I happened to be raisin’ partickler h--l round town one night, an’ drifted inter Ned Griffiths place. I’d been thar lots uv times, an’ ez everybody in Angel’s knowed me, an’ I was purty poplar, I’d never hed no trouble, till this night I’m tellin’ y’u about. “It jest happened that a crowd uv fellers hed come down from Murphy’s camp ter have a little fun on ther own account, an’ it was jes’ my d--d luck ter run agin the gang ’bout the time they was beginnin’ ter feel ther oats purty lively, an’ of course, I hed ter git into a muss with ’em. “Ez I didn’t hev no friends in the place at the time, an’ folks don’t mix in other fellers’ rows much in the diggin’s, I was buckin’ agin a dead tough game. Ez luck’d hev it, I happened ter git mixed up with the toughest cuss in the crowd--Three Fingered Jack, a feller what’ll ornyment a tree yit, y’u see if he don’t![B] [B] And ornament the gallows tree he did, several years later. Author. “I got my gun out, all right, but the d--d thing was outer fix, an’ if it hadn’t been, I was too bilin’ drunk ter hit a cow at three paces. “Well, Jack jest played with me with his knife, kinder carvin’ me up on the installment plan, ye know. He’d socked a few purty good sized holes inter my ole carkiss, an’ was gittin’ ready ter finish up the job in good shape, when Jim come in an’ took a han’ in the game with his own little bowie. “I was too full er booze ter ’preciate the show, but they do say ez how Jim did a purty neat job. Jack got well arter a while, but he didn’t act very sosherble with the folks at Angel’s enny more.”