"Thar is only one thing which happens to disturb an' mar the hour,
an' not a whisper of this ever drifts to Whiskey Billy's mother.
She's busy with her sorrow where we leaves her, an' she never hears
a sound but her own sobs. It's while we're waitin', all quiet an'
pensif, camped about the Red Light. Another outlaw from Red Dog
comes cavortin' in. Of course, he is ignorant of our bein' bereaved
that a-way, but he'd no need to be.
"'Whatever's the matter with you-all wolves yere?' he demands, as he
comes bulgin' along into the Red Light. 'Where's all your howls?'
"Texas arises from where he's settin' with his face in his hands,
an' wipin' the emotion outen his eyes, softly an' reverentially
beats his gun over this yere party's head; whereupon he c'llapses
into the corner till called for. Then we-all sets down silent an'
sympathetic ag'in.
"It's the next day when Whiskey Billy takes his last ride over to
Tucson on a buckboard. A dozen of us goes along, makin' good them
bluffs about Billy's worth; Enright an' Peets is in the stage with
the old mother, an' the rest of us on our ponies as a bodygyard of
honor.
"'An' it is well, marm,' says Enright, as we-all shakes hands, as
Billy an' his mother is about to leave Tucson, an' we stands b'ar-
headed to say adios; 'an' death quits loser half its gloom when one
reflects that while Willyum dies, he leaves the world an' all of us
better for them examples he exerts among us. Willyum may die, but
his mem'ry will live long to lead an' guide us.'
"I could see the old mother's eyes shine with pride through her
tears when Enright says this; an' as she comes 'round an' shakes an'
thanks us all speshul, I'm shorely proud of Wolfville's chief. So is
everybody, I reckons; for when we're about a mile out on the trail
back, an' all ridin' silent an' quiet, Texas ups an' shakes Enright
by the hand a heap sudden, an' says:
"'Sam Enright, I ain't reported as none emotional, but I'm yours to
command from now till death, an' yere's the hand an' word of Texas
Thompson on it.'"
CHAPTER XIX.
When the Stage Was Stopped.
"Camp down into that char thar, son," said the Old Cattleman with
much heartiness. "Which I'm waitin' for that black boy Tom to come
back; I sends him for my war-bags. No, I don't need 'em none, only
I've got to give this yere imbecile Tom money. Them Senegambians is
shore a pecooliar people. They gets a new religion same as you-all
gets a new hat, an' they changes their names like some folks does
their shirt. Which they're that loose an' liable about churches an'
cognomens!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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