"As I intimates, he yields to them errors touchin' his grub an'
drink for days; followin' which, Billy nacherally gives way to
death, to the relief of all concerned.
"'You can gamble I'm never so pleased to see a gent die in my life!'
says Dan Boggs.
"It's most likely the second day after Billy's been seein' things,
an' we've corraled him in a wickeyup out back of the dance hall,
when Doc Peets is in the Red Light thoughtfully absorbin' his
whiskey.
"'This yere riotous patient of mine,' says Peets, as he leans on the
bar an' talks general an' free to all, 'this noisy party whom you
now hears callin' Dan Boggs a rattlesnake, bein' misled to that
extent by Red Dog licker, has a ca'm moment about first drink time
this mornin', an' beseeches me to send for his mother. As a sick
gent has a right to dictate terms that a-way, I dispatches a
telegram to the lady he names, sendin' of the same by Old Monte to
be slammed through from Tucson. I reckons she gets it by now. Old
Monte an' the stage has been in Tucson for more'n an hour, an' as
'lectricity is plenty sudden as a means, I takes it Whiskey Billy's
mother is informed that he's askin' for her presence.'
"'Which if he's callin' an' honin' for his mother,' says Texas
Thompson, who's at the bar with Peets, 'it's cattle to sheep he's a
goner. You can allers tell when a sport is down to his last chip; he
never omits to want to see his mother.'
"'That's whatever!' says Enright. 'Like Texas, I holds sech desires
on the part of this yere Red Dog martyr as markin' the beginnin' of
the end.'
"'Bein' he's plumb locoed,' remarks Pests, after Texas an' Enright
expresses themse'fs, 'I takes the liberty to rustle them clothes of
Billy's for signs. I developed letters from this near relatif he's
clamorin' for; also a picture as shows she's as fine a old lady as
ever makes a flapjack. From the way she writes, it's all plain an'
easy he's been sendin' her some rainbows about how he's loomin' up,
like Slim Jim does his sister that a-way. He's jest now
industriously trackin' 'round, lookin' to locate himse'f as a
lawyer. I don't reckon this yere mother has the slightest idee he's
nothin' more'n a ragged, busted victim of Red Dog. Lookin' at it
that a-way,' concloodes Pests, 'I'm wonderin' whether I don't make a
crazy-boss play sendin' this lady them summons.'
"'When she gets here, if she comes,' says Enright, an' his voice
shows a heap of sympathetic interest; 'when she finds out about
Whiskey Billy, it's goin' to break her heart. That she ain't game to
make the trip is shorely to be hoped.'
"'You can gamble a pony she comes,' says Texas. 'If it's a wife,
now, like mine--which goes ropin' 'round for a divorce over in
Laredo recent; an', as you-all is aware, she shorely ties it down--
thar might be a chance out ag'in her advent. But bein' she's his
mother, Wolfville may as well brace itse'f for the shock.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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