d thus happily
removed us from the edge of whatever sort of precipice we seemed to have
approached; for Dr. MacBride had brought his rod. He dilated upon this
sport with fervor, and we assured him that the streams upon the west
slope of the Bow Leg Mountains would afford him plenty of it. Thus we
ended our meal in carefully preserved amity.

XX. THE JUDGE IGNORES PARTICULARS

"Do you often have these visitations?" Ogden inquired of Judge Henry.
Our host was giving us whiskey in his office, and Dr. MacBride, while
we smoked apart from the ladies, had repaired to his quarters in the
foreman's house previous to the service which he was shortly to hold.

The Judge laughed. "They come now and then through the year. I like the
bishop to come. And the men always like it. But I fear our friend will
scarcely please them so well."

"You don't mean they'll--"

"Oh, no. They'll keep quiet. The fact is, they have a good deal better
manners than he has, if he only knew it. They'll be able to bear him.
But as for any good he'll do--"

"I doubt if he knows a word of science," said I, musing about the
Doctor.

"Science! He doesn't know what Christianity is yet. I've entertained
many guests, but none--The whole secret," broke off Judge Henry, "lies
in the way you treat people. As soon as you treat men as your brothers,
they are ready to acknowledge you--if you deserve it--as their superior.
That's the whole bottom of Christianity, and that's what our missionary
will never know."

There was a somewhat heavy knock at the office door, and I think we all
feared it was Dr. MacBride. But when the Judge opened, the Virginian was
standing there in the darkness.

"So!" The Judge opened the door wide. He was very hearty to the man he
had trusted. "You're back at last."

"I came to repawt."

While they shook hands, Ogden nudged me. "That the fellow?" I nodded.
"Fellow who kicked the cook off the train?" I again nodded, and he
looked at the Virginian, his eye and his stature.

Judge Henry, properly democratic, now introduced him to Ogden.

The New Yorker also meant to be properly democratic. "You're the man
I've been hearing such a lot about."

But familiarity is not equality. "Then I expect yu' have the advantage
of me, seh," said the Virginian, very politely. "Shall I repawt
to-morro'?" His grave eyes were on the Judge again. Of me he had taken
no notice; he had come as an employee to see his employer.

"Yes, yes; I'll