casins. As we entered
the dining-room, George led him by the hand, assuring all the girls
that he was perfectly harmless. One long table accommodated us all.
George, who sat at the head with our Indian on his right, begged the
girls not to act as though they were afraid; he might notice it. Wall
fed him pickles and lump sugar until the supper was brought on. Then
he pushed back his chair about four feet, and stared at the girls like
an idiot. When George ordered him to eat, he stood up at the table.
When he wouldn't let him stand, he took the plate on his knee, and ate
one side dish at a time. Finally, when he had eaten everything that
suited his taste, he stood up and signed with his hands to the group
of girls, muttering, 'Wo-haw, wo-haw.'

"'He wants some more beef,' said Wall. 'Bring him some more beef.'
After a while he stood up and signed again, George interpreting his
wants to the dining-room girls: 'Bring him some coffee. He's awful
fond of coffee.'

"That supper lasted an hour, and he ate enough to kill a horse. As we
left the dining-room, he tried to carry away a sugar-bowl, but
Wall took it away from him. As we passed out George turned back and
apologized to the girls, saying, 'He's a good Injun. I promised him he
might eat with us. He'll talk about this for months now. When he goes
back to his tribe he'll tell his squaws all about you girls feeding
him.'"

"Seems like I remember that fellow Wall," said Bradshaw, meditating.

"Why, of course you do. Weren't you with us when we voted the bonds to
the railroad company?" asked Edwards.

"No, never heard of it; must have been after I left. What business did
you have voting bonds?"

"Tell him, Coon. I'm too full for utterance," said Edwards.

"If you'd been in this country you'd heard of it," said Coon Floyd.
"For a few years everything was dated from that event. It was like
'when the stars fell,' and the 'surrender' with the old-time darkies
at home. It seems that some new line of railroad wanted to build in,
and wanted bonds voted to them as bonus. Some foxy agent for this new
line got among the long-horns, who own the cattle on this Strip, and
showed them that it was to their interests to get a competing line
in the cattle traffic. The result was, these old long-horns got owly,
laid their heads together, and made a little medicine. Every mother's
son of us in the Strip was entitled to claim a home somewhere, so
they put it up that we should come in and