"'You owes it to the Wolfville public, Colonel,' says Enright. 'The
Coyote has now been suppressed two days. We-all has been deprived of
our daily enlightenment an' our intellects is boggin' down. For two
entire days Wolfville has been in darkness as to worldly events, an'
is right now knockin' 'round in the problem of existence like a
blind dog in a meat shop. Your attitoode of delay, Colonel, is
impossible; the public requests your return. If you ain't back at
the Coyote office to-morry mornin' by second drink time, dealin'
your wonted game, I wouldn't ondertake to state what shape a jest
pop'lar resentment will assoome.'
"'An', of course,' observes the Colonel with a sigh, 'when you-all
puts it in that loocid an' convincin' way, Enright, thar's no more
to be said. The strike is now over an' the last kyard dealt. Jim,
you an' me an' them printers will return to the vineyard of our
efforts. This over-work may be onderminin' me, but Wolfville shall
not call to me in vain.'"
CHAPTER II
The Grinding of Dave Tutt.
"Yes," said the Old Cattleman, as he took off his sombrero and
contemplated the rattlesnake band which environed the crown, "cow-
punchers is queer people. They needs a heap of watchin' an' herdin'.
I knowed one by the name of Stevenson down on the Turkey Track, as
merits plenty of lookin' after. This yere Stevenson ain't exactly
ornery; but bein' restless, an' with a disp'sition to be emphatic
whenever he's fillin' himse'f up, keepin' your eye on him is good,
safe jedgment. He is public-sperited, too, an' sometimes takes lots
of pains to please folks an' be pop'lar.
"I recalls once when we're bringin' up a beef herd from the
Panhandle country. We're ag'in the south bank of the Arkansaw,
tryin' to throw the herd across. Thar's a bridge, but the natifs
allows it's plenty weak, so we're makin' the herd swim. Steve is
posted at the mouth of the bridge, to turn back any loose cattle
that takes a notion to try an' cross that a-way. Thar's nothin' much
to engage Steve's faculties, an' he's a-settin' on his bronco, an'
both is mighty near asleep. Some women people--from the far East, I
reckons--as is camped in town, comes over on the bridge to see us
cross the herd. They've lined out clost up to Steve, a-leanin' of
their young Eastern chins on the top rail.
"'Which I don't regyard this much,' says one young woman; 'thar's no
thrill into it. Whyever don't they do somethin' excitin'?'
"Steve observes with chagrin that this yere lady is displeased; an',
as he can't figger nothin' else out quick to entertain her, he gives
a whoop, slams his six-shooter off into the scenery, socks his spurs
into the pony, an' hops himse'f over the side of the bridge a whole
lot into the shallow water below. The jump is some twenty feet an'
busts the pony's laigs like toothpicks; also it breaks Steve's
collarbone an' disperses his feachers 'round some free an' frightful
on account of his sort o' lightin' on his face.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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