or do to stop Mike, so after talkin' it
over a spell we deecides to throw him loose, Enright first sendin'
word that he's harmless, an' not to be bumped off.

"Upon receivin' Enright's word the Red Dog chief passes on a warnin'
to the Bug. Mike mustn't, onder no circumstances, be killed. Bein'
he's a artist he's not reespons'ble.

"'Me kill him!' cries the Bug, who's scandalized at the idee; 'me take
a gun to sech a insect! Gents, I've too much reespect for them good
old faithful .45's of mine to play it as low down on 'em as all
that.'

"Which there leeniencies I allers feels is on account of the little
Joolie, an' the blind love she entertains for Mike. When the worst
does come we carefully conceals from her the troo details, an' insists
that the powder house goes off by itse'f.

"Then Nell, with Tucson Jennie and Missis Rucker to back her, carries
the little Joolie girl the news. It's shore tough papers; an' Missis
Rucker an' Tucson Jennie is kept racin' an' runnin' an' riotin'
between the O. K. House an' Mike's wickeyup, freightin' over camphor
an' sim'lar reestor'tives to the little Joolie all night long, while
Nellie holds her head.

"Does Mike's kickin' the bucket leave the little Joolie broke? It's
this a-way: You see we-all chips in, an' makes up a fa'rly moderate
pile to buy the _Linden in October_.

"'It's to remember your gifted husband by,' explains Enright, as him
an' Peets an' Boggs goes over to clink down the gold, an' get the
_Linden_. 'This yere transcendent spec'men shall never leave our
hands.'

"'Not while we live!' declar's Peets.

"'It's a marv'lous picture!' returns the little Joolie girl, proud and
tearful both at once.

"'Marv'lous!' repeats Peets; 'it's got the _Angelus_ beat four ways
from the Jack.'

"'Which I should remark!' puts in Boggs. 'Why, Doc, this yere _Linden_
of ours shore makes that _Angelus_ thing look like an old beer
stamp.'

"These yere outpourin's of onreestricted admiration shore does set the
little Joolie to smilin' through her tears. Also, the bankroll they
brings her sends her back to her folks in style.

"So you don't regyard it as the proper caper to go deceivin' the
little Joolie girl? That's preecisely the p'sition a Bible sharp over
in Tucson takes, when some party's mentionin' the business.

"'You go tell that doubtin' Thomas of a sky-pilot,' says Peets, on
hearin' about it, 'that he can bet a ton of Watts' hymn books on it.
You-all say, too, for