' tooth of
conscience will be dulled, havin' your distinguished endorsement so to
do. Virchoo is all right in its place. But so is vice. The world
can't all be good an' safe at one an' the same time. Which if we all
done right, an' went to the right, we'd tip the world over. Half has
got to do wrong an' go to the left, to hold things steady. That's me;
I was foaled to do wrong an' go to the left. It's the only way in
which a jealous but inscroot'ble Providence permits me to serve my
hour. Offishul drunkard! Ag'in I thanks you. Which this yere's the way
I long have sought, an' mourned because I found it not, long meter.'

"Boggs is the only gent who takes a gloomy view.

"'That's fine for this yere egreegious Monte,' says Boggs, talkin' to
Enright; 'as Wolfville's pet drunkard an' offishul cobra, he's mighty
pleasantly provided for. But how about the camp? Whar does Wolfville
come in? We're a strong people; but does any gent pretend that we
possesses the fortitoode reequired to b'ar up through all the comin'
rum-soaked years?--an' all onder the weight of this yere onmatched
inebriate, whom by our own act an' as offishul drunkard, we onmuzzles
in our shrinkin' midst? Gents, this thing can't last.'

"'Not necessar'ly, Dan,' retorts Enright, his manner trenchin' on the
cold; 'not necessar'ly. Let me expound the sityooation. I need not
remind you-all that Sand Creek Riley, who drives the Tucson stage,
gets bumped off the other evenin', while preeposterously insistin'
that aces-up beats three-of-a-kind. Realizin' the trooth of half what
you has said, Dan, I this evenin' enters into strategic reelations
with the stage company's agent; an' as a reesult, an' datin' from now
on, old Monte will be hired to fill the place of Sand Creek Riley,
whom we all regrets. It's hardly reequired that I p'int out the
benefits of this yere arrangement. As stage driver, old Monte for
every other night will get sawed off on Tucson. An' I misjedges the
vitality of this camp if, with the pressure on it thus relieved, an'
Tucson carryin' half the load, it's onable to live through. In my
opinion, Dan, by the light of this explanation, you at least oughter
hope for the best.'

"'That's whatever!' says Boggs, who's plumb convinced; 'if I'd waited
ontil you was heard, Sam, I'd never voiced them apprehensions. But the
fact is, this yere Monte cobra of ours, with his bibbin's an' his
guzzlin's, has redooced me to a condition of nervous prostration. It