The Man from Bar 20: A Story of the Cow CountryMulford, Clarence Edward
General
The Man from Bar 20: A Story of the Cow Country
Mulford, Clarence Edward
Cassidy, Hopalong (Fictitious character) -- Fiction; Western stories
The newcomer turned his back to the bar, took two long steps and
peered into the battered showcase on the other side of the room, where
a miscellaneous collection of merchandise, fly-specked and dusty,
lay piled up in cheerful disorder under the cracked and grimy glass.
Staring up at him was a roughly scrawled warning, in faded ink on
yellowed paper: "Lean on yourself." The collection showed Mexican
holsters, army holsters, holsters with the Lone Star; straps, buckles,
bone rings, star-headed tacks, spurs, buttons, needles, thread, knives;
two heavy Colt's revolvers, piles of cartridges in boxes, a pair of
mother-of-pearl butt plates showing the head of a long-horned steer;
pipes, tobacco of both kinds, dice, playing cards, harmonicas, cigars
so dried out that they threatened to crumble at a touch; a patented
gun-sight with Wild Bill Hickok's picture on the card which held
it; oil, corkscrews, loose shot and bullets; empty shells, primers,
reloading tools; bar lead, bullet molds--all crowded together as they
had been left after many pawings-over. Pop was wont to fretfully damn
the case and demand, peevishly, to know why "it" was always the very
last thing he could find. Often, upon these occasions, he threatened
to "get at it" the very first chance that he had; but his threats were
harmless.
The stranger tapped on the glass. "Gimme that box of .45's," he
remarked, pointing. "No, no; not that one. This _new_ box. I'm shore
particular about little things like that."
Pop reluctantly obeyed. "Why, just th' other day I found a box of
ca'tridges I had for eleven years; an' they was better'n them that they
sells nowadays. That's one thing that don't spoil." He looked up with
shrewdly appraising eyes. "At fust glance I thought you was Logan. You
shore looks a heap like him: dead image," he said.
"Yes? Dead image?" responded the stranger, his voice betraying nothing
more than a polite, idle curiosity; but his mind flashed back to the
trail. "Hum. He must have a lot of friends if he looks like me," he
smiled quizzically.
Pop grinned: "Well, he's got some as is; an' some as ain't," he replied
knowingly. "An' lemme tell you they both runs true to form. You don't
have to copper no bets on either bunch, not a-tall."
"Sheriff, or marshal?" inquired the stranger, turning to the bar. "It's
plenty hot an' dusty," he averred. "You have a life-saver with me."
"Might as well, I reckon," said Pop, shuffling across the room with
a sudden show of animation, "though my life ain't exactly in danger.
Nope; he ain't no sheriff, _or_ marshal. We ain't got none, 'though I
ain't sayin' we couldn't keep one tolerable busy while he lived. I've
thought some of gettin' th' boys together to elect me sheriff; an'
cussed if I wouldn't 'a' done it, too, if it wasn't for th' ridin'."
"Ridin'?" inquired the stranger with polite interest.
"It shakes a man up so; an' I allus feels sorry for th' hoss,"
explained the proprietor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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