tle ambusheein' on his own account.

The point is, that these yere bad men are a low-down, miserable
proposition, and plain, cold-blood murderers, willin' to wait for a
sure thing, and without no compunctions whatsoever. The bad man takes
you unawares, when you're sleepin', or talkin', or drinkin', or lookin'
to see what for a day it's goin' to be, anyway. He don't give you no
show, and sooner or later he's goin' to get you in the safest and
easiest way for himself. There ain't no romance about that.

And, until you've seen a few men called out of their shacks for a
friendly conversation, and shot when they happen to look away; or asked
for a drink of water, and killed when they stoop to the spring; or
potted from behind as they go into a room, it's pretty hard to believe
that any man can be so plumb lackin' in fair play or pity or just
natural humanity.

As you boys know, I come in from Texas to Buck Johnson's about ten year
back. I had a pretty good mount of ponies that I knew, and I hated to
let them go at prices they were offerin' then, so I made up my mind to
ride across and bring them in with me. It wasn't so awful far, and I
figured that I'd like to take in what New Mexico looked like anyway.

About down by Albuquerque I tracked up with another outfit headed my
way. There was five of them, three men, and a woman, and a yearlin'
baby. They had a dozen hosses, and that was about all I could see.
There was only two packed, and no wagon. I suppose the whole
outfit--pots, pans, and kettles--was worth five dollars. It was just
supper when I run across them, and it didn't take more'n one look to
discover that flour, coffee, sugar, and salt was all they carried. A
yearlin' carcass, half-skinned, lay near, and the fry-pan was, full of
meat.

"Howdy, strangers," says I, ridin' up.

They nodded a little, but didn't say nothin'. My hosses fell to
grazin', and I eased myself around in my saddle, and made a cigareet.
The men was tall, lank fellows, with kind of sullen faces, and sly,
shifty eyes; the woman was dirty and generally mussed up. I knowed
that sort all right. Texas was gettin' too many fences for them.

"Havin' supper?" says I, cheerful.

One of 'em grunted "Yes" at me; and, after a while, the biggest asked
me very grudgin' if I wouldn't light and eat, I told them "No," that I
was travellin' in the cool of the evenin'.

"You seem to have more meat than you need, though," says I. "I could
use