I git that broke to gentle I can kind o' ride
over and fork one of them law books without gittin' throwed afore I git
my spurs hooked in good. But I sure don't aim to take no quick
chances, even if you are ridin' herd for me."

"That lawyer was right, Pete. And if I had had your chance, money, and
no responsibilities--at your age, I wouldn't have waited to pack my
war-bag to go to college."

"Well, I figured _you_ was educated, all right. Why, that there lawyer
was sayin' right out in court about you bein' intelligent and
well-informed, and readin' character."

"He was spreading it on thick, Pete. Regular stuff. What little I
know I got from observation--and a little reading."

"Well, I aim to do some lookin' around myself. But when it comes to
readin' books--"

"Reckon I'll let you take 'Robinson Crusoe'--it's a bed-rock story.
And if you finish that before you leave, I'll bet you a new Stetson
that you'll ask for another."

"I could easy win that hat,"--and Pete grinned.

"Not half as easy as you could afford to lose it."

"Meanin' I could buy one 'most any time?"

"No. I'll let you figure out what I meant." And the sturdy little
sheriff heaved himself out of a most comfortable chair and waddled up
the street, while Pete stared after him trying to reconcile bow-legs
and reading books, finally arriving at the conclusion that education,
which he had hitherto associated with high collars and helplessness,
might perhaps be acquired without loss of self-respect. "It sure
hadn't spoiled Jim Owen," who was "as much of a real man as any of
'em"--and could handle talk a whole lot better than most men who
boasted legs like his. Why, even that El Paso lawyer had complimented
Owen on his "concise and eloquent summary of his findings against the
defendant." And Pete reflected that his lawyer had not thrown any
bouquets at any one else in that courtroom.

Just how much a little gray-eyed nurse in El Paso had to do with Pete's
determination to browse in those alien pastures is a matter for
speculation--but a matter which did not trouble Pete in the least,
because it never occurred to him; evident in his confession to Andy
White, months later: "I sure went to it with my head down and my ears
laid back, takin' the fences jest as they come, without stoppin' to
look for no gate. I sure jagged myself on the top-wire, frequent, but
I never let that there Robinson Crusoe cuss git out of sight till I run
him into h