olonel and Bill tossed off full glasses
of whiskey, acknowledged with throaty "A-ah!" and smack of lips; and I
hastily quaffed my lemonade. From the dollar which the Colonel grandly
flung upon the bar he received no change--by which I might figure that
whereas whiskey was twenty-five cents the glass, lemonade was fifty
cents.

We issued into the street and were at once engulfed by a ferment of sights
and sounds extraordinary.

CHAPTER V

ON GRAND TOUR

The sun had set and all the golden twilight was hazy with the dust
suspended in swirl and strata over the ugly roofs. In the canvas-faced
main street the throng and noise had increased rather than diminished at
the approach of dusk. Although clatter of dishes mingled with the cadence,
the people acted as if they had no thought of eating; and while aware of
certain pangs myself, I felt a diffidence in proposing supper as yet.

My two companions hesitated a moment, spying up and down, which gave me
opportunity to view the scene anew. Surely such an hotch-potch never
before populated an American town: Men flannel shirted, high booted,
shaggy haired and bearded, stumping along weighted with excess of belts
and formidable revolvers balanced, not infrequently, by sheathed
butcher-knives--men whom I took to be teamsters, miners, railroad graders,
and the like; other men white skinned, clean shaven except perhaps for
moustaches and goatees, in white silk shirts or ruffled bosoms, broadcloth
trousers and trim footgear, unarmed, to all appearance, but evidently
respected; men of Eastern garb like myself--tourists, maybe, or
merchants; a squad of surveyors in picturesque neckerchiefs, and revolver
girted; trainmen, grimy engineers and firemen; clerks, as I opined, dapper
and bustling, clad in the latest fashion, with diamonds in flashy ties and
heavy gold watch chains across their fancy waistcoats; soldiers; men whom
I took to be Mexicans, by their velvet jackets, slashed pantaloons and
filagreed hats; darkly weathered, leathery faced, long-haired personages,
no doubt scouts and trappers, in fringed buckskins and beaded moccasins;
blanket wrapped Indians; and women.

Of the women a number were unmistakable as to vocation, being lavishly
painted, strident, and bold, and significantly dressed. I saw several in
amazing costumes of tightly fitting black like ballet girls, low necked,
short skirted, around the smooth waists snake-skin belts supporting
handsome little pisto