“No one but a fool--a crank named Wycliff. There he is now, cleaning the street, with the rest of Maxwell’s gang--a job just suited to him, except that he ought not to have any employment at all in a decent town.” “Wycliff? Wycliff? John Wycliff?--One-eyed Wycliff?” “Yes, that’s the man. Do you know him?” asked the little man in surprise. “I rather think I do,” replied Colonel Lathrop, pulling out his wallet, “and here’s a hundred dollars that says you don’t drive John Wycliff out of Papyrus, and that if you try it you’ll have the biggest job for the Coroner you ever had in Berkshire. What! Won’t put up the money?” and the big ranchman looked down on the little millionaire with contempt. “There’s no blood in your neck, is there!” The dapper little churchman was shocked that anyone should expect him to do such a vulgar, unchristian thing as to bet, but he controlled himself long enough to ask:-- “What do you know of Wycliff?” “Oh, not much,” sneered the big fellow, “except that he is the most stubborn cuss, and can shoot the straightest and quickest of any man I ever knew.” Then, as the little man waited, he continued:-- “He was a cow-boy on my ranch. One day the Indians tried to stampede his herd. There were seven red devils, and he all alone against them. We found four ‘good Indians,’ Indians that would never steal any more cattle, one just dying, and two had returned to the reservation to report that Wycliff was ‘bad medicine.’ We found Wycliff, nearly dead, with one eye shot out, behind a breastwork of dead cattle.” The big ranchman did not attempt to disguise his contempt for the little man, and without a word of farewell, he strode down into the dirt of the street, to greet his former employee. Meanwhile one of the loungers at the hotel had overheard the Colonel’s story. Before night it was repeated, with numerous additions, all through Papyrus, and all the Baldwins’ money would not have hired the biggest bully in the town to approach John Wycliff with evil intent. The ranchman stepped up to Hugh Maxwell, who was overseeing the work, saying:-- “I want to borrow one of your men--Wycliff--for awhile, if I may do so.” “All right,” was the reply. “Only return him in good condition.” Then the two walked off down the street, and the Colonel told Wycliff of his conversation with Zechariah Baldwin.