"As my mind is led back along the trail, thar looms before the
mirror of mem'ry a hour when the whole Wolfville outfit quits every
other game to turn itse'f loose an' lie. Which for once we takes the
limit off. Not only do we talk lies, we acts 'em; an' Enright an'
Doc Peets an' Texas Thompson, as well as Moore an' Tutt an' Boggs,
to say nothin' of myse'f an' Cherokee Hall, an' the rest of the
round-up, gets in on the play. Which every gent stands pat on them
inventions to this yere day, disdainin' excooses an' declinin'
forgiveness tharfor. Moreover, we plays the same system ag'in,
layout an' deal box bein' sim'lar. The fact is, if ever a outfit's
hand gets crowded, it's ours.
"The demands for these yere falsehoods has its first seeds one
evenin' when a drunken party comes staggerin' into camp from Red
Dog. It's strange; but it looks like Wolfville has a fasc'nation for
them Red Dog sots; which they're allers comin' over. This victim of
alcohol is not a stranger to us, not by no means; though mostly he
holds his revels in his Red Dog home. His name I disremembers, but
he goes when he's in Wolfville by the name of 'Whiskey Billy.' If he
has a last name, which it's likely some he has, either we never
hears it or it don't abide with us. Mebby he never declar's himse'f.
Anyhow, when he gets his nose-paint an' wearies folks in Wolfville,
sech proceedin's is had onder the nom de ploome of 'Whiskey Billy,'
with nothin' added by way of further brands or y'ear-marks tharonto.
"This partic'lar date when he onloads on us his companionship,
Whiskey Billy is shore the drunkest an' most ediotic I ever sees.
Troo, he saveys enough to pull his freight from Red Dog; but I
allers allows that's merely the work of a loocid interval.
"Whiskey Billy ain't brightened Wolfville with his society more'n an
hour--he only gets one drink with us--when he lapses into them
treemors. An', you hear me, son, he shorely has 'em bad; Huggins'
attacks that a-way is pooerile to 'em.
"It looks like that Red Dog whiskey is speshul malignant. I've
beheld gents who has visions before ever Whiskey Billy emits that
preelim'nary yelp in the Red Light, an' allows that Black Jack is
pawin' 'round to skelp him; but I'm yere to remark, an' ready to
enforce my statements with money, argyments or guns, I never
witnesses no case which is a four-spot to Whiskey Billy's.
"Why, it gets so before he quits out--which he does after frothin'
at the mouth for days, an' Boggs, an' Tutt, an' Jack Moore, with Doc
Peets soopervisin', ridin' herd onto him an' holdin' him down in his
blankets all the time--that if Whiskey Billy goes to take a drink of
water, he thinks the beverage turns to blood. If he sees anythin' to
eat, it changes into a Gila monster, or some sech creepin' an'
disrepootable reptile; an' Billy jest simply r'ars back an' yells.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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