" That's
right; that's the way I feels; plumb religious at the mere sight of
'em. If I was to meet as many as two of 'em at onct, I'd j'ine the
church. The same bein' troo, I'm sayin' that this yere Whiskey
Billy's mother can't strike camp too soon nor stop too long for
Texas Thompson.'
"'Every gent I reckons feels all sim'lar,' says Cherokee Hall. 'A
old lady is the one splendid thing the Lord ever makes. I knows a
gent over back of Prescott, an' the sight of a good old woman would
stop his nose-paint for a week. Wouldn't drink a drop nor play a
kyard, this party wouldn't, for a week after he cuts the trail of
somebody's old mother. He allows it revives mem'ries of his own, an'
that he ain't out to mix no sech visions with faro-bank an' whiskey
bottles.'
"'An' I applauds this yere Prescott person's views,' says Texas
Thompson, 'an' would be proud to know the gent.'
"'How long, Peets,' says Enright, who's been thinkin' hard an'
serious, 'how long--an' start at onct--before ever this yere Whiskey
Billy's parent is goin' to strike the camp?'
"'It'll be five days shore,' answers Peets. 'She's 'way back yonder
the other side of the Missouri.'
"When Old Monte comes rumblin' along in next day, thar's the message
from Whiskey Billy's mother.
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