The Coming of Cassidy-And the Others

ing carelessly to the loungers hugging the shade of the store. "Howd'y," he said. "Seen anyt

that Price cub to none of us. We know him. He spent three days here about a year ago, an' th' town 's been sorta r

rful hard, why I gotta tell you he 's on his way, anyhow. I had to go

his chin. "Well, then he 'll git here, all right," he prophesied pessimistically.

orge Bruce. "So 'm I

ke you fellers, runnin' away an' leavin' me to face it. An' it was you fellers what played

o faces out of seven were bright, Dad's particularly so. "We

. "Huh! Seems

" muttered Dawson. "He 's a-a

'though you just can't help likin' th' c

nothin' about no Injuns, did you? A feller rid th

en over in th' Crazy Butte country an' I heard they raided through th' Little Mo

orge Bruce. "Leastawise it was when I wa

It was when he was in it! Lor

Troops has too many fixin's an' sech. You gotta travel light an' live without eatin' an

Injuns ever spawned!" asserted Bruce with heat. "It wi

r as did that,"

in' th' Seventh, s

t fightin' 'em. An' no cavalry in th' hull country can ketch 'Paches

pitched battle, when they don't. Cavalry chases 'em so fur an' no

ing a fly ten feet away and shifting his cud for another shot. "

ase some," exclaimed Carter. "Afore he

" spoke up Lefty. "We was all

workin' day an' night tryin' t

. "I sorta hates to miss him. Anyhow

suits me right plumb down to th' ground. Now, just lemme tell you somethin' about Jimmy," and he gave

st like him!" chuc

immy, all right

amed Dad. "He 's a heller

u stay an' see him

or I would. Ye

Carter hopefully, and harking back to the subject which lay hea

ce too often,"

' what I done with that gun was turrible." He paused to gather the facts in the right order before he told the story, and when he looked around again he flushed and swore. The audience had silently faded away to esc

like to hear it, but I 'm too thirsty. Come in an' ha

clink of glasses told where Dad's would-have-been audience then was. Carter walked around his counter and seated himself in his favorite place against the door jamb. Bill, having eluded Dad, sat on a keg of edibles and sm

. "Oh, you worryin' about that yearlin'? Well,

dashed toward the counter. But he paused and looked around foolishly. "That

ach head flanked by a rifle barrel. Above a swirling cloud of dust glinted a spurting

d Dawson. "What you

all that's holy!" cried Dad from the har

m. Waving the Apache breech-cloth, the medicine-bag and a stocking-shaped moccasin in one hand, h

"It is a G-string! He 's gone an' got one of 'em! He 's g

ly. To Carter location meant more than method. He was plainly nervous. When he reached the crowd he, in tu

self. Jimmy snatched it from his hands. "You never mind what's in it,

t?" demanded Da

d hurriedly around the horizon and repeated the

, first. Then

I mean where-near her

aw him. But he missed an' I did n't," he gloated proudly. "I met a Pawnee scout just afterward an' he near

r, I knowed it! I felt it all along!

ime!" cried Dad, hurrying away to the h

ment for a long time," laughed

his shoulder: "An' I hopes you drop dead!

enough men here to wipe out a tribe. I reckon we 'll stay an' see th' fun. Anyhow, it 'll b

ck and then stuffing the gory G-string in the folds of the slicker he carried strapped behind the cantle of the saddle. "We 'll se

"You oughta be glad it was n't a better gun, Kid. I don't reckon he could put two in the sa

mporium carrying water into his store, and with a speed that would lead one to infer that he was doing it on a wager. Emerging again he saw the punchers looking at him and, dropp

e adobe buildings. "What about th' 'dobes, Carter?" he ask

t big enough to hold us all," he replied, with triumph. "This here store is th'

st place." To Bill he said in an aside, "He 's p

up. "Wonder if Carter 'll l

you to," l

last raid," explained Lefty. "An'

r men in Dick's 'dobe acrost th' street. Then we'd have a strategy position. You see-oh, hullo," h

of deserted buildings, frequently exploring the quiet interiors for food. Emerging from the "hotel" he looked across the street at the Emporium and barked tentatively at the man sitting on its flat roof. Wriggling ap

a dozen buckets filled with water stood in the center of the room, carefully covered over with boards and wrapping paper. Clouds of tobacco smoke lay in filmy stratums in the heated air and drifted up the resin-streaked sides of the building. The shimmering, gray sand stretched away in a glare of sunlight and seemed to writhe under the heated air, while droning flies flitted

Huh," he sniffed, "playin' poker for nails! An' you don't even own th' nails," he grinned facetiously, and glanced around to see if his point was taken. He suddenly stiffened when he noticed the man who sat on his counter a

assembled that you ain't never had no artistic trainin'. Yore skimpy soul is dwarfed an' narrowed by false weights and dented measures. You can look a sunset in th' face an' not see it for countin' yore profits." Carter glanced instinctively at the f

rning over to try again. "Sensitive an' timid? Yes

"An' let him sleep-he 's a cus

aler. "Which is worse than

en in that 'dobe-" be

yore four men?" snapped Lefty. "Can't you s

ted crowd. "As I was sayin' before you

snapped Carter. "You qu

he carving, and forthwith held ou

map of th' United States, with some almost necessary par

t. It's crude an' untrained, but it's there. Imagination is a hopeful sign, for it is

h to say th' same of you?" p

ed the man who would sleep. He h

in' too high up, an' Florida sticks out th' wrong way. Th' Great Lakes is

grinned Dad Johnson, who, it appeared, also h

t?" demanded Jimmy, dodging the co

no good," decide

an' how Florida sticks out. What you call California is th' so

ain't!" interposed Carter, w

," repeated Jimmy. "Florida is one

grunted George Bruce. "No

saddle, an' Maine is w

un," gri

saddle," laughed Dad, smacking h

ll all be Ill-o'-noise," s

n to suit me," growled Fred Tho

ou ask me th' same thing! Th' answer will be ME!" he snapped. "I 'm goin'

' extensive in yore cleanin' operations," he retorted. "All yo

nd the sleepy individual turned ove

they 'd hurry up an' do it," asserted Dad.

ou was!" came

e some drunk Injun gets in a fight or beats his squaw th' rumor starts. An' by th' time it gets to us it says that all th' Apaches are out follerin

ng at Carter. "I 'll have this

lamations zephyred down to them. Carter dashed to the door, whi

k?" cried Car

came a growl

course, yo

ain't no Injuns out at all,

at's th'

dawg. Sic him, Pete! H

gettin' licked?

ed Hank promptly. "Mine

race,

exuded generously from a pine knot. "I 'm purty nigh cooked an' I 'm comin' down, In

ed Carter. "Cassidy heard th' same thing, too. An

here is awful!" He grabbed a protruding nail and checked himself. "Price might 'a' shot a 'Pache, or he might not. I don'

tore. "Jimmy, you shore they are out?

you was so plumb anxious to fight, an' eager to interrupt an' ask fool questions that I shore hated to spoil it a

op speed to the corral, mounted in one bound and dashed off a short distance. "Why, I got them trophies in a poker game from that same Pawnee scout, you Mosshead! He could n't play th' game no better 'n you fellers. An' th' blood is snake's blood, fresh put on. You will drive me out of town, hey?" he jeered, and, wheeling, forthwith rode for his life. Back in the store

ver on the floor in an agony of mirth. One by one the enraged garrison caught the infection and one by one lay down on the floor and wept. Lefty, propping himself against the sugar

' roof!" gurgled George Bru

n splinters an hot rosim! Whee-hee-hee! Three

ner. "Gimme a ho-ho-ho!" he roared in a fresh paroxysm of mirth. "

yelled Baldy; Martin. "Oh, my

'em burn his store. 'Better stand 'em off in my plac

horned toad waitin' for his dinner?" shouted Dickin

k belligerently. "I 'll ski

let him alone, Hank," he warned earnestly. "Anyhow, we pestered him nigh

atched the yellow dog until its rolling eyes bespoke a bliss u

n' me 'll go back an' get a good look at th' asylum," he suggested, vaulting into the saddle and starting toward the store. No invitation was needed because the dog had adopted him on the spot. And the next morning, wh

ns of Sharpsville stood in front of the Emporium and waved hats in one last, and glad farewell. Now that Jim