The Texan A Story of the Cattle Country

h reins hanging, "tied to the ground," in front of the Long Horn Saloon. Beyond the ope

led an open jack-knife slipped beneath the Texan's right stirrup-leather and a moment later was withdrawn as the cayuse, suspicious of the fumbling on the wrong side of the saddle, snorted nervously and sheered sharply against

g the knife into his pocket, entered the saloon from which he emerged unobserved while the boisterous crowd was refilling

glasses on the back-bar in anticipation of the inevitable rush of business which would descen

tobacco and a book of brown papers, proceeded to roll a cigarette. The bartender returned the greeting an

ette, and picking the bottle up by the neck, poured a few drops into his glass. "Pretty bad pile-up," persisted t

ey didn't?" Purdy tapped the bar with his glass as his black eyes fixed the other with a level stare. "I came o

head: "I don't know ho

he freight, an' he thinks about as much of the nesters as what he does of a rattlesnake. I was ridin' fer the Lazy Y outfit, an' fer quite a spell 'fore this tarford fever business the ol' man use to ride the barb wire along Beaver, reg'lar. Yeh know how loose ol' Lazy Y is with his change?

n' have another. I do'no what yer talkin' about but it's jest as bad to not have eno

te my own drinks to suit me. Mebbe I got more'

oningly: "You usta win 'em al

's drug down everything he's went into. He c'n out-rope me an' out-ride me, but he can't out-guess me! An' some day he's go

nodded; "Well,

ck-eyed stare. "Yes. But they's a heap mor

other, as he mechanic

ey's a gal o' mine come in on the train, which she'll be wantin', mebbe, to take a ride, an' hain't fetched no split-up clothes fer to straddle a real saddle. That sidewa

in the livery barn. Jest tell Ross to have him saddled agin' you w

he other? Y'goin' to do a

beration. "I told you onct I don't know what yer talkin' about. Lazy Y Freeman an' Doc Godkin

in't all-by a damn sight!" He paused, but the other never took his eyes from his face. "Do yeh know what chloral is?" The man's voice lowered to a whispe

eyes narrowed and the corner of his mou

ch'lly dozes off an' the boys thinks he's spliflicated an' takes him down to the hotel an' puts him to bed, an' before he wakes up I'll have the buckin' contest, an' the ropin' contest, an' most of

"You git to hell out o' here!" he said, quietly. "I don't set in no game with

his cigarette to the floor, and began irrelevantly: "It's hell-jest hell with the knots an' bark left on-that Nevada wild horse range is." The cowpuncher noted that Cinnabar Joe ceased suddenly to puff his cigar. "It's ab

n a train stopped sudden one evenin' where they wasn't no station, an' after that the outfit busted up. But they wasn't broke no more, all but the Kid. They left him shift fer hisself. Couple o' years later two of the outfit drifted together in Cinnabar an' there they found the Kid drivin' a dude-wagon. Drivin' a dude-wagon through the park is a damn sight easier than huntin' wild horses, an' a damn sight safer than railroadin' with a Colt, so when the two hard hands stops the Kid's dude-wa

and quick as a flash he reached beneath the bar and the next instant had Purdy covered with a six-shooter. With his finger on the trigger Cinnabar Joe hesitated, and in that instant he learned that the

one and the same movement with the firing of it,

d of figgered yeh might be sort o' riled up, so I left my gun in my slicker.

ts place. "Where'd you git that dop

agin so I fetched some water from a hole a mile away an' camped. He et a little bacon later but he was half crazy with the pain in his back. He'd yell when I walked near him on the ground, said it jarred him, an' when I tried to move him a little he fainted plumb away. But he come to agin an' begged me fer to hand him his Colt that had lit about ten feet away so he could finish the job. I seen they wasn't no use tryin' to git him nowheres. He was all in. But his mutterin' had interested me consid'ble. I figgers if he's a hold-up, chances is he's got a nice fat cache hid away somewheres, an' seein' he hain't never goin' to need it I might's well have the handl

give him the gun?"

k on the halter. Jest stuck the gun in his mouth an' pulled the trigger. I was goin' to bury him bu

o' that reward money, but I won't do a friend that way. An' more'n that," he paused and leaned closer. "I'll let you in on somethin' wo

of the money. Then, there's Jennie over to the hotel. We'd about decided that bartendin' an' hash-slingin' wasn't gittin' us nowheres an' we was goin' to hitch up an' turn nesters on a little yak outfit I've bought over on Eagle." He stopped abruptly and looked the cowpuncher squarely in the eye. "If it wasn't fer

hatever you call it, you

l I've had a chanct to win out. I'll git the stuff from Doc an'

ou, an' then shoot it out with you when you come to. From now on it's you or me. You've got your hooks into me an' this is only the beginnin'." The man stopped abruptly and stared for a long time at the stove

ne of the whole outfit had the guts to tend Jimmy Trimble when he got the spotted fever-nursed him back to good as ever, too, after the Doc had him billed through fer yonder." Cinnabar Joe turned and brought his fist down on the bar. "I'll do it!" he gritted. "Purdy'll think Tex switched the drinks o

ot on the lo

grave six fo

d waits and the

not on the lo

him there on th

all night hoot

d beats and the

grave on the l

now as they ro

ifteen or twenty drops," he said laconically, and laughed. "Nothin' like keepin' yer eyes an' ears open. Doc kicked like a steer first, but he seen I had his hide hung on the fence onless he loosened up. But he sure wouldn't weep no