Wolfville Days

chery of

arkeep of this tavern an' tell him to frame me up a pitcher of that peach brandy an' honey the way I shows him how. An' when he's got her organized, bring it out to us with two glasses by the fire. You-all ain't filin' no objections to a drink, be you?"

he peach and honey appeared, "an' the same claims my respects entire; that's its nose-p

ut more than once," I said. "What do you m

le lot, like I do the rest of the language I employs. As for what it means, I would have allowed that any gent who escapes bein' as weak-mind

ghty decent sort of sport, old Cape Willingham it is; an' yet Dan Boggs is forever referrin' to old Cape as 'ornery.' An' I reckon Dan thinks he is. Which the trouble with Cape, from Dan's standpoint, is this: Cape is on

ed thar in his rehabilitations, Boggs allers put it up he'd a- found no fault. But Cape notices that about tenth drink time his shore-enough eye begins for to show up bloodshot, an' is a bad mate for the glass eye, the same bein' onaffected by drink. So what does Cape do but have a bloodshot eye made, an' takes to packin' the sam

all Colonel Sterett an' Doc Peets an' Old Man Enright can do, added to Dan's be

'f, Dan, an' yet we don't go 'round breakin' the information off in you every tinic you makes a queer play. An' you must b'ar with Cape, an' them caprices of his.' "'I ain't denyin' nothin',' declar's Dan. 'I'm the last longhorn in Wolfville to be revilin' old Cape, an' refoosin' him his plain American right to go pirootin' 'round

t ain't affectation on the part of Dan; he shorely feels them shifts. Many a time, when it's go to be red eye time with Cape, an' as the latter is scr

from his mouth after sech exercises, 'would drive me as locoed

Dan never refers to old Cape except as 'ornery;' while Enright an' the rest of us sees nothin'

hoomans who herds sheep is ornery, speshul. Of course, the term has misapplications; as an extreme case, I've even heard ign'

oyal to the Wes

as a goose-ha'r pillow, is goin' to notice some turgid changes when he lands in Arizona. But a shorthorn, that a-way, should reserve his jedgment till he gets acquainted, or gets lynched, or otherwise experiences the West in its troo colors. While Arizona, for specime

hoof in her hurdy gurdies, ask for his letters, or change in whatever sums seems meet to him at the New York Store for shirts. Also, he might come buttin' along into the O. K. Restauraw three times a day with the balance of the band, an' Missis Rucker would shorely turn her grub-game for him, for the limit if he so pleased. But still, most likely every ge

he'll shore come winner on the deal. At the end of three months, or mebby in onusual cases four months, jest as this yere maverick is goin' into the dance hall, or mebby the Red L

s, this yere greetin' is what you sports who comes from the far No'th calls 'the beginnin' of the thaw. The ice is breakin' up; an' if our candidate sets in his saddle steady an' with wisdom at this back-thumpin', name-callin' epock, an' do

Ben is killed, final; clowned by old Captain Moon. Thar's a strange circumstance attendin', as the papers say, the obliteration of this Curly Ben, an' it makes a heap of an impression on me at the time. It shows how the instinct

Curly an' means business-goes plumb through an' emerges from onder Curly Ben's off eye. For that matter, it breaks the arm of a party who's playin' opp'site to Curly, an' who is skinnin' his pasteboards at the time, thinkin' nothin' of war. Which the queer part is this: Curly, as I states-an' he never kno

r overtakes, an' the feelin's of the camp is in nowise laid waste when M

, allowin' to a moral certainty they'll see what's loose an' little enough for 'em to pull. The aborigines makes the error of goin' up the wind from Moon's mules, which is grazin' about with hobbles on, an' them sagacious anamiles actooally has fits. It's a fact, if you want to see a mule go plumb into the air an' remain, jest let him get a good, ample, onmistak

a Winchester an' pumps a load or so into the darkness for gen'ral results. An' he has a heap of

sdom about a savage, an' these yere Apaches ain't runnin' right in on Moon an' his relatif neither. They was perfeekly familiar

ver moves or makes a noise; an' as they've been all through sech festivals befo

chin' the two Moons, the Injun agent comes troopin' along. He seeks to round-up his savages an' herd 'em back to th

, as you-all might call it, an' makes Moon an' his Winchester workin' nephy a speech. He addresses 'em a whole lot on the enormity of downin' Apaches who goes prowlin' about an' s

eir camp; an' don't you yourse'f get too zealous neither an' come too clost, or a

of Captain Moon's protests, he gives himse'f

insists on yieldin'; 'you won't last as long

imse'f to the agent, who puts it up he'll send him to Prescott

as I once hears a big chief from Washin'ton call 'em, takes the nephy from this yere fallacious agent an'

; pegs him out like he's a hide they're goin' to dry. Thar's a big ant hill close at hand; it's with reference to this yere ant colony that the nephy is staked out. In three hours from the tu

ted party I b'lieve I mentions to you prior. This yere Charlie takes a day off from where he's workin'-at least he calls it labor- -at the stage corrals, an' goes curvin' over to Red Dog. Charlie tanks

rral gates, pleadin' with the mules inside to open 'em, in the mornin', b

gent would have been turned out. But it's different about Locoed Charlie. He hadn't that hold on the pop'lar heart; didn't fill sech a place in the gen'ral eye; an' so,

f them ants has long since retired with the final fragments of Locoed Charlie. "You-all might o' seen the story. Colonel Sterett writes it up in the Coyote, an' heads it, 'Hunger is a Terrible Thing.' This sot Charlie comin' to his death that a-way puts a awful scare over Huggins an' Old Monte. It reforms 'em for more'n two hours. Huggins, who is allers frontin' up as one who possesses public sperit, tries to look plumb dignified about

o weeks, bringin' both teams. Thar-upon he relates them out

is yere miscreant is a gov'ment official an' wears the gov'ment brand, an' even the Stranglers, of whatever commoonity, ain't strong enough, an' wouldn't be jestified in stackin' in ag'in th

f Enright, no gent says much. Thar's some games where troo p'liteness consists in sayin' nothin

xican goods, an' Curly an' the Yoonited States marshals has had more turn-ups than one. But Curly is dead game; an' so far, he manages to either out-luck or out-

ows him, an' them Injuns knows him, an' it's even money, if he comes pokin' into their bailiwick, they'll tumble to his errant. In se

for a gun, I simply courts the resk. But then ants dazzles me-I lay down to ants, an' I looks on it as no disgrace to a gent to say so.' "'Ants shorely do sound poignant,' admits Dan, 'speshully them big black an' red an

n' down the agent. The idee is pecooliarly grateful to Wolfville. It stands to win no matter how the kyards lay in the box. If Curly fetches the agent flutterin' from his limb, thar's one miscreant less in Ariz

ll go over an' kill off the agent. Curly Ben says the prop'sition is the pleasantest thing he hears since he leaves the Panhandle ten years before, an' so he accepts five hundred dollars an' the pony-the same bein' the nacher of payments in advance-an' goes

har ain't nobody in camp, from Doc Peets to Missis Rucker, but what's eager to know the finish of Curly's expedition, but of course everybody hobbles his feelin's in them behalfs. I

oon asks after a few

k his ha'r an' y'e

r thousand ready,' says Cur

ur tine an' talent an' trouble in revengin' my pore nephy's deemise by

says Curly Ben ca'mly, set

e way the kyards is comin'; Curly Ben, on his part, is smilin' like what Huggins calls 'one of hi

murderer an' floor-manage his obsequies? An' don't I promise you eight stacks m

n, lightin' a seegyar an then leanin'

oon, an' his eyes is gettin' little an' hard,

e a mighty profoose an' lavish form of sport. The moment I'm finished explainin' to him my mission, an' jest as I onlimbers my six-shooter to get him where he lives, he of

you aimin' to

ponds Curly Ben. As I states, he

nderstand,'

es up the whole side of a cow. The question now is, do you raise this yere gent?

o' figgerin' for a moment or so. 'What d

orely take him. I would proceed with your destruction at once, an' return t

filed from his guns for many years. Which this last is runnin' in Moon's head while he talks with his disgustin' emmi

've got to have this agent's ha'r an' y'ears. You camp around the Red Light awhile, Curly, till I go o

n't presoome to explain it; an' it's all so dead onnacheral at this juncture that the only s'lootion I'm cap'ble of givin' it is that it's preedestinated that a-way. Curly not only lets Moon walk off, which af

brisk as a cat an' with no more noise, Moon comes walkin' into the Red Light d

urnin' that fav'rite kyard. Mo

ards onto the table, an' then onto the floor, the

t an' into the regions beyond, like snappin' your thumb an' finger

s no openin' by which the Stranglers could cut in on the deal. Yes, Enright convenes his committee an' goes through the motions of tryin' Moon. They does this to preserve appearances, but of course they throws Moon loose. An' as thar's reasons, as any gent can see, why no one cares to have the story as it is, be made a subject of invidious gossip in Red Dog, a

he confident fashion where-with my old friend reeled off the finding of

as he prepared to go into the hotel, "which you can