n' k-kid will know how you ate
d-dirt when Houck told you to."

"I couldn't do that," the boy pleaded. "Why, I wouldn't have a chance.
I'd know what they were sayin' all the time."

"Sure you'd know it. Tha's the price you g-gotta pay for g-grovelin'.
Don't you see yore only chance is to go out an' make good before the
folks who know how you've acted? Sneak off an' keep still about what you
did, amongst s-strangers, an' where do you get off? You know all yore
life you're only a worm. The best you can be is a bluff. You'd be
d-duckin' outa makin' the fight you've gotta make. That don't get you
anywhere a-tall. No, sir. Go out an' reverse the verdict of the court.
Make good, right amongst the people who're keepin' tabs on yore record.
You can do it, if you c-clamp yore j-jaw an' remember that yore red haid
is c-covered with g-glory an' you been given dominion."

"But--"

"S-snap it up!" squeaked Blister.

The red head came up again with a jerk.

"Keep it up."

"What'll I do? Where'll I find work?"

"Out on the range. At the K Bar T, or the Keystone, or the Slash Lazy D.
It don't m-matter where."

"I can't ride."

"Hmp! Learn, can't you? Dud Hollister an' Tom Reeves wasn't neither one
of them born on a bronc's back. They climbed up there. So can you. You'll
take the dust forty times. You'll get yore bones busted an' yore red haid
cut open. But if you got the guts to stick, you'll be ridin' 'em slick
one o' these here days. An' you'll come out a m-man."

A faint glow began to stir in the boy's heart. Was there really a chance
for him to reverse the verdict? Could he still turn over a leaf and make
another start?

"You'll have one heluva time for a while," Blister prophesied. "Take 'em
by an' large an' these lads chasin' cows' tails are the salt o' the
earth. They'll go farther with you an' stick longer than anybody else you
ever met up with. Once they know you an' like you. But they'll be right
offish with you for a while. Kinda polite an' distant, I expect. S-some
overbearin' g-guy will start runnin' on you, knowin' it'll be safe. It'll
be up to you to m-make it mighty onsafe for him. Go through to a finish
that once an' the boys will begin sizin' you up an' wonderin' about you.
Those show-me lads will have to get evidence about 'steen times before
they'll believe."

"I'll never be able to stick it. I'm such a--so timid," Dillon groaned.

The justice bristled. "H-hell's bells! What's ailin' you, Texas man