Fully one half the gamblers and cow-boys of the West are persons who have committed dark crimes and fled thither to escape _justice_; and wickedness, when once _launched_, will find in this country easy sailing. As has been said, almost every cow-boy has one pony and riding-rig of his own. In case he should come into a place and _kill_ somebody, this pony is calculated to skip with to another part, thereby avoiding the necessity of riding off one of the company’s horses. The regular initiation to the cow-boys’ society is three murders; and when they find that you are good stuff, and will shoot without ceremony, you are one of the _boys_; and you may depend upon it that you have friends who will stand by you in the hours of darkest danger. But if you prove to be a _brag_ and a _coward_, your misfortunes are laughed at. If a criminal is pursued, and he can reach the banks of the Arkansas River anywhere west of Dodge City, and then understands the plains, he is as safe as though he were in an uninhabited land. Or if he does not understand the prairie, and goes to a cow-camp and tells the boys what is up, if he has the right appearance one of them will mount a _pony_ and give _him_ one, and lope across to another range. Persons who do not know the country can not _follow_ a person here; and if it is tried, and you do not perish from _thirst_, death will meet you in _some way_--you can rest assured of that. Telegraph-wires and officers of the law are of little avail here in running down a felon; and if a person keeps on his guard, and stays upon the range away from the towns, there is no danger of ever being taken. Many of the boys are _never_ caught off their guard, and the belt is upon them at the board and in the bed. They are _ever_ prepared. Every stranger is watched with an eagle eye, and the least suspicion is nipped in the bud.