ootloose. This leesure on the part of Ugly Collins turns out some
disastrous for that party. Not havin' no missives to read leaves him
free to go weavin' about permiscus an' it's while he's strayin' here
an' thar that he tracks up on this stranger who's come after Cherokee.

"Ugly Collins sees our pilgrim in the Red Light an', except Black
Jack,--who of course is present offishul--the stranger's alone. He's
weak an' meek an' shook by a cough that sounds like the overture to a
fooneral. Ugly Collins, who's a tyrannizin' cowardly form of
outcast, sizes him up as a easy prey. He figgers he'll have a heap
of evil fun with him, Ugly Collins does. Tharupon he approaches the
consumptive stranger:

"'You-all seems plenty ailin', pard,' says Ugly Collins.

"'Which I shore ain't over peart none,' retorts the stranger.

"'An' you-all can put down a bet,' returns Ugly Collins, 'I learns of
your ill-health with regrets. It's this a-way: I ain't had no
exercise yet this evenin'; an' as I tracks in yere, I registers a vow
to wallop the first gent I meets up with to whom I've not been
introdooced ;--merely by way of stretchin' my muscles. Now I must
say--an' I admits it with sorrow--that you-all is that onhappy sport.
It's no use; I knows I'll loathe myse'f for crawlin' the hump of a
gent who's totterin' on the brink of the grave; but whatever else can
I do? Vows is vows an' must be kept, so you might as well prepare
yourse'f for a cloud of sudden an' painful vicissitoodes.'

"As Ugly Collins says this he kind o' reaches for the invalid gent
where he's camped in a cha'r. It's a onfortunate gesture; the
invalid--as quick as a rattlesnake,--prodooces a derringer, same as
Doc Peets allers packs, from his surtoot an' the bullet carries away
most of Ugly Collins' lower jaw.

"'You-all is goin' to be a heap sight more of a audience than a
orator yereafter, Collins,' says Doc Peets, as he ties up the
villain's visage that a-way. 'Also, you oughter be less reckless an'
get the address of your victims before embarkin' on them
skelp-collectin' enterprises of yours. That gent you goes ag'inst is
Doc Holliday; as hard a game as lurks anywhere between the Slope an'
the Big Muddy.'

"Does the Stranglers do anything to this Holliday? Why, no, not
much; all they does is present him with a Colt's-44 along with the
compliments of the camp.

"'An' it's to be deplored,' says Enright, when he makes the
presentation speech to Holliday