The Texan: A Story of the Cattle CountryHendryx, James B. (James Beardsley)
General
The Texan: A Story of the Cattle Country
Hendryx, James B. (James Beardsley)
Texas -- Fiction; Western stories
The other drank deeply of the liquor and returned the cork. "You ought
to break yourself of that habit, Win, there's no tellin' where it'll
lead to. A fellow insulted me once when I was sober an' I never
noticed it. But laying aside your moral defects, them whiskers of
yourn is sure onornamental to a scandalous degree. Wait, I'll fetch my
razor, an' you can mow 'em." He disappeared, to return a few moments
later with a razor, a cake of hand-soap, and a shaving brush.
"I never have shaved my self," admitted Endicott, eyeing the articles
dubiously.
"Who have you shaved?"
"I mean, I have always been shaved by a barber."
"Oh!" The cowboy took another long pull at the bottle. "Well, Win,
the fact is them whiskers looks like hell an' has got to come off." He
rolled up his sleeves. "I ain't no barber, an' never shaved a man in
my life, except myself, but I'm willin' to take a chance. After what
you've done for me I'd be a damn coward not to risk it. Wait now 'til
I get another drink an' I'll tackle the job an' get it over with. A
man can't never tell what he can do 'til he tries."
Endicott viewed the cowboy's enthusiasm with alarm. "That's just what
I was thinking, Tex," he hastened to say, as the other drew the cork
from the bottle. "And it is high time I learned to shave myself,
anyway. I have never been where it was necessary before. If you will
just sit there and tell me how, I will begin right now."
"Alright, Win, you can't never learn any younger. First off, you wet
your face in the creek an' then soap it good. That soap ain't regular
shavin' soap, but it'll do. Then you take the brush an' work it into a
lather, an' then you shave."
"But," inquired the man dubiously, "don't you have towels soaked in hot
water, and----"
"Towels an' hot water, hell! This ain't no barber shop, an' there
ain't no gin, or whatever they rub on your face after you get through,
either. You just shave an' knock the soap off your ears an' that's all
there is to it."
After much effort Endicott succeeded in smearing his face with a thin,
stringy lather, and gingerly picked up the razor. The Texan looked on
in owlish solemnity as the man sat holding the blade helplessly.
"What you doin', Win, sayin' the blessin'? Just whet her on your boot
an' sail in."
"But where do I begin?"
The Texan snorted disgustedly. "Your face ain't so damn big but what
an hour or two reminiscence ought to take you back to where it starts.
Begin at your hat an' work down over your jaw 'til you come to your
shirt, an' the same on the other side, takin' in your lip an' chin in
transit, as the feller says. An' hold it like a razor, an' not like a
pitchfork. Now you got to lather all over again, 'cause it's dry."
Once more Endicott laboriously coaxed a thin lather out of the brown
hand-soap, and again he grasped the razor, this time with a do-or-die
determination.
"Oughtn't I have a mirror?" he asked doubtfully.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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