murin'
dupe. I'll gamble you a stack of bloos you don't make me drink no
water, thinkin' it's nosepaint, same as you pretends to do with them
wretched confed'rates of yours.'

"The Professor is a big b'ar-built sport, an' looks equal to holdin'
his own onder common conditions. But Boggs don't come onder the latter
head. So the Professor, turnin' diplomatic an' compliment'ry, explains
that sech powerful nachers as Boggs' is out of reach of his
rope--Boggs bein' reepellent, besides havin' too strong a will.

"'As to you, Mister Boggs, with that will of yours,' says the
Professor, 'I might as well talk of hypnotizin' Cook's Peak.'

"One after another, Boggs makes parade of everybody in camp. It's no
go; the Professor waves 'em aside as plumb onfit. Missis Rucker's got
too much on her mind; in Rucker the tides of manhood is at so low a
ebb he might die onder the pressure; Monte's too full of nosepaint,
alcohol, that a-way, bein' a nonconductor.

"When the Professor dismisses Monte, the ground he puts it on excites
that inebriate to whar it reequires the united energies of Cherokee
an' Tutt to kick him off the Professor. It's only the direct commands
of Enright which in the end indooces him to keep the peace.

"'Let me at him!' he howls; 'let me get at him! Does any one figger
I'll allow some fly-by-night charl'tan to go reeflectin' on me? Stand
back, Cherokee, get out o' the way, Dave, till I plaster the wall with
his reemains!'

"'Ca'm yourse'f, Monte,' says Enright, who's come in in time to
onderstand the trouble. 'Which if this hypnotizer was reely meanin' to
outrage your feelin's, it'd be different a whole lot, an' this
sod-pawin' an' horn-tossin' might plead some jestification. But what
he says is in the way of scientific exposition, an' nothin' said
scientific's to be took insultin'. Ain't that your view, Doc?'

"'Shore,' replies Peets. The Doc's been havin' no part in the
discussion, him holdin' that the Professor, with his rannikaboo bluff
about healin', is a empirik, an' beneath his professional contempt.
'Shore. Also, I'm free to inform Monte that if he thinks he's goin' to
lap up red licker to the degree he does, an' obleege folks in gen'ral
to treat sech consumption as a secret, he's got his stack down
wrong.'

"'Enough said,' ejacyoolates Monte, but still warm; 'whether or no,
Doc, I'm the sot this outfit's so fond of picturin', I at least ain't
so lost to reason as to go buckin' ag'inst you an' Enrig