AFOOT AN' THIRTY MILES FROM HIS
HOME RANCH PULLS HIS GUN AN' STICKS UP THE MOCKIN' BIRD'S BUCKBOARD.
p. 138.]

"Turkey Track piles his saddle an' bridle onto the r'ar of the
buckboard, an' settin' in behind on his plunder, commands the ground
owl driver to head west till further orders. Likewise, he so far
onbends as to say that them orders won't be deecem'nated, none
whatever, ontil he's landed at the Turkey Track home ranch. Since he
backs this yere programme with his artillery, the ground owl ain't got
nothin' to say, an' it's no time when the outfit's weavin' along a
side trail in the sole int'rests of Turkey Track.

"What's worse, to dispell the ennui of sech a trip, an' drive away
dull care, Turkey Track takes to despotizin' over the Mockin' Bird
with his six-shooter, an' compels her to sing constant throughout them
thirty miles. He makes her carrol everythin' from 'Old Hundred' to
'Turkey in the Straw,' an' then brings her back to 'Old Hundred' an'
starts her over. The pore harassed Mockin' Bird, what with the dust,
an' what with Turkey Track tyrannizin' at her with his gun, sounds
final like an ongreased wheelbarrow which has seen better days. She
don't get her voice ag'in for mighty clost to a month, an' even then,
as she says herse'f, thar's places where the rivets reequires
tightenin'.

"It's pressin' onto eight weeks before ever Turkey Track is heard of
'round town ag'in. Also, it's in the Bird Cage Op'ry House he hits the
surface of his times. The Mockin' Bird has jest done drove the vocal
picket-pin of 'Old Kentucky Home,' when, bang! some loonatic shoots at
her. Which the bullet bores a hole in the scenery not a foot above her
head.

"Every one sees by the smoke whar that p'lite attention em'nates from,
an' before you could count two, Moore, Boggs, an' Texas Thompson has
convened themselves on top of that ident'cal spot. Thar sets Turkey
Track, cryin' like a child.

"'It's no use, gents,' he sobs, the tears coursin' down his cheeks,
'she's so plumb bewitchin', an' I adores her so, I simply has to blaze
away or bust.'

"While he don't harm the Mockin' Bird none, the sent'ment of the
Stranglers, when Enright raps 'em to order inform'ly at the Red Light
an' Black Jack has organized the inspiration, favors hangin' Turkey
Track. Even Texas, who loathes ladies by reason of what's been sawed
off onto him in the way of divorce an' alimony, that a-way, by his
Laredo wife, is yoonan'mous for swingin' him o