"Step up, please, and tell us."
"Why, it's like this," he says. "I'm ranchin' lone-hand down on
Badger. There's the wife and two kiddies, and a job for a circus-man
to make both ends meet--piecin' out a few cattle and a dozen hogs with
a garden patch. All I got between me and a show-down is my team.
Well, this feller comes along, played out, and asks for a drink of
water. My wife's laid up--too darn much hard work for any woman--and
I've got Jerry saddled by the fence, to ride for the doctor. Other
horse is snake bit and weavin' in the stable with a leg like a barrel.
I goes in to get the water, and when I comes out there's this sucker
dustin' off with the horse. Then I run over to C-bar-nine and routs
the boys out. We took out after him, corrallin' him in a draw near the
Grindstones. That's about all."
"Make any fight?" I asked.
"Naw!" says the man, disgusted. "I was wanting to put my hands on him,
but he comes in like a sick cow--seemed foolish."
"How foolish?"
"Oh, just stared at us. We called to him to halt, and he stopped, kind
of grinned at us and says: 'Hello!' I'd a 'hello'd' him if the boys
hadn't stopped me."
[Illustration: We called to him to halt, and he stopped, kind of
grinned at us and says: "Hello!"]
"Prisoner," I says, "this looks bad. I don't know where you come from,
but you must have intelligence enough to see that this man's wife's
life might have depended on that horse.
Pages:
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127