The Twins of Suffering Creek

one at that. Sandy Joyce, too, bore traces suggestive of the weightiest moments of his life. Toby Jenks stood chewing the dirty flesh of

I don't guess I could bile a bean right without a lib'ry o' cook-books, so how I'm to make 'em elegant pap for their suppers 'ud beat the Noo York p'lice force. An' as fer fixin' their clothes, an' bathing 'em, why, it 'ud set me feelin' that fulish you wouldn't know me from a patient in a bug-house. I

cacklin' now," observ

n' eggs," murmur

indolent body. And the subject of their discourse was Scipio's two children. The father had ridden off

Sunny along to see to 'em.' That bein' said, you'll git right back to your poker with a righteous feelin' which makes it come good to rob each other all you know. Psha! You a

way, he received no reply. Bill continued to gaze out at Scipio's hut in a way that suggested great absorption, while Toby had not yet lunched sufficiently off hi

unsuspicious female the dirty trick of marryin' her. Mebbe you'll sure hev' notions 'bout kiddies an' such things. Now, if Wild Bill

head cooled some," re

. "But if you hadn't said that––which you said you would ha

in his sudden interest, Toby

ght up to the shack a

and, hitching his moleskin trousers up de

's most like everything else. If you get on the wrong trail at the start, it's li'ble to lead you wher' you don't want to go. What I says is, hit the right tr

Zip's twins," murm

s where I'm

inquired Tob

e tired," retort

e trail, then

andy, and promptly rela

lation of the house beyond the dumps and fi

oin' enough gassin' fer a female tattin' bee. Your hot air makes me want to sweat. Now, them kiddies'll ne

bate the point further. He had made his protest, which had been utterly ineff

children had missed fire, and it was his duty not to allow himself

in' how to feed 'em?

eyes t

me pointers," he retorted

dies do need variety. Y'see, they're kind o' delicate feeders, same as high-bred hosses, an' dogs an' things. Now, dogs need diff'rent meat every day, if you're goin' to bring 'e

cuit for them kiddies?" in

sick," cried Sandy

u'll make them kiddi

. Then, assuming a superiority that scarcely

er fix them 'bout right. I don't know 'bout them new sides o' sow-belly Minky's jest had in. Seems to me they'll likely need teeth eatin' that. Seein' you ain't a heap at fixin' beans right, we best cut that line right out––though I 'lows there's elegant nourishin'

in Toby, recommencing the

d silent, in spite of his anger against the broad-shouldered Toby, and was possessed of a feeling that somehow his second effort h

u'd sure shame a crazy sheep fer intellect." Then he added, with withering sarcasm, "Say, don't you never le

turned on Sunny and de

ered in a tone the

stirring far more rapidly than

left the veranda without another look in his companions' direct

of his wholesale piratical methods at cards––indeed, at any kind of gambling––perhaps his most striking feature was his almost idolatrous worship for his horses. He simpl

ll fortune, as the price of horses goes, and for breed and capacity, both in harness and under saddle, it would have been difficult to find their match anywhere in the State of Montana. He had broken and trained them himself in everything, and, wh

ed over to another, the first time another leg than his own had been thrown across her; and he mutely upbraided himself for his folly, and hated Scipio for having accepted her services. Why, he asked

existence. There were no ethical considerations in his mind. His inspiration was purely personal. And though he did not attempt to reduce his hatred to reason, nor to analyze it in any way, the truth of its existence lay in the fact of a deadly opposition to this sudden rise to notoriety of a man of strength, and f

nearly sundown. Then, as he heard the voices of returning prospectors, he set to work on h