Dodge City (Kan.) -- Fiction; Masterson, Bat, 1853-1921 -- Fiction; Western stories
The office of the _Weekly Planet_ was on the northern fringe of Dodge.
It was ten o’clock of the night when Rattlesnake expressed his
dissatisfaction with Mr. Kelly in manner and form set forth. The
editorial and mechanical forces of the _Weekly Planet_, made up of
Higginson Peabody, Jack, and a trio of printers, were hard at work at
the time and knew nothing of Rattlesnake and his exploits. Indeed, the
earliest word which they received of Rattlesnake was when that impulsive
cowboy pulled up at their door.
The cause of Rattlesnake’s pulling up was simple. When he and Mr. Kelly
sat down to that friendly game, which in its finale was so
disappointing, Rattlesnake, the evening being warm, had cast aside his
coat and hat. Being more or less preoccupied when ready to leave, he
forgot to reassume those garments. His halt at the _Weekly Planet_ was
with a purpose of repairs.
Bare of head and coatless, Rattlesnake called from the saddle to
Higginson Peabody. The latter, with Jack at his elbow, appeared in the
door.
“Got a hat and coat you don’t want?” asked Rattlesnake.
There were two six-shooters in the belt of Rattlesnake and a Winchester
in its saddle-scabbard under his left leg, and it may have been this
stock of ironware that awoke the generosity of Higginson Peabody.
Whatever it was to move his benevolence, the truth remains that he took
his own hat and coat from their peg and conferred them on Rattlesnake.
As he picked up the bridle reins to ride away Rattlesnake ran his hand
into his pocket.
“What’s the damage?” he queried.
“Nothing,” returned Higginson Peabody; “they are freely yours.”
“What’s the subscription to this rag?” asked Rattlesnake, pointing up at
the sign above the door. “How much does she cost for a year?”
“Two dollars,” broke in Jack, who was the circulating agency of the
_Weekly Planet_.
“Thar’s a saw-buck,” quoth Rattlesnake, bringing up a ten-dollar
goldpiece and tossing it to Jack. “Put down Rattlesnake Sanders for five
years.” Then, as he buried a spur in his pony’s flank and fled like an
arrow: “I’ll send th’ address as soon as I settle down.”
When Rattlesnake Sanders injured Mr. Kelly’s arm Mr. Masterson was at
the other end of town. It was ten minutes before he heard of the gay
doings of Rattlesnake. When word reached him he threw a saddle onto a
pony and started in pursuit. Mr. Masterson also halted at the open door
of the _Weekly Planet_, only he was after information, not apparel.
“Did you see a cowboy without coat or hat go by?” asked Mr. Masterson,
on the bare chance that the phenomenon had caught the eye of Higginson
Peabody.
“I just gave one my coat and hat,” replied Higginson Peabody.
“It was Rattlesnake Sanders,” said Mr. Masterson, settling himself in
his stirrups for a run. “He’s creased Kelly. Which way did he go?”
Before Higginson Peabody could answer, Jack took reply from his mouth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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