oomultous seed of what comes
subsequent to be called the Lincoln County War.'

"'What's the finish of this interestin' crim'nal?' asks Cherokee.

"'Lynched,' returns Enright. 'They puts him over the jump at Seven
Rivers. You see this Rattlesnake--they calls him Rattlesnake Bark in
them later years--is bunked down in one of these yere jim-crow,
barn-board hotels. Thar's a resoundin' form of guest in the adjoinin'
room, snorin' to beat four kings an' a ace. Rattlesnake tries poundin'
on the partition, an' sw'arin' at him, an' callin' him a hoss thief.
It's no avail. The snores of that boarder sounds like sawin' planks,
an' fa'rly rocks the shack--they're that stormy. Final, when
Rattlesnake's burdens gets to be more'n flesh an' blood can b'ar, he
reaches for his .45, an' bombards that sleeper good an' plenty through
the wall. It turns out it's the new jedge. In the mornin', when this
joorist is discovered too dead to skin, the public is that mortified
it takes Rattlesnake out as soon as breakfast's over, an' strings him
to a limb.'

"'Don't this pore Rattlesnake get no hearin'?' asks Nell.

"'You see, Nellie,' Enright explains, 'what with maverickin' the
Chisholm calves, an' a stage or two hold-up which p'ints to him, the
close season's been out as to this Rattlesnake person for mighty like
a year. Not but what he might have made preperations. Thar's a
reeligious party present who asks Rattlesnake if he wants to pray
some. "Which you'll cross the dark river all the easier," expounds the
reeligious gent. But Rattlesnake reefuses his ministrations. "I'm
what I be," he says; "an' as for that dark river you refers to, I
ain't lookin' for no shallow ford."

"'This Rattlesnake,' continyoos Enright, 'is willin' to learn to the
last. It's his way. Spring a new game on him an' he's out instanter
lookin' for information an' advice. That's why he comes on so fast.
Thar bein' nothin' to stand him on for the purpose of bein' lynched,
the Stranglers posed Rattlesnake a-top of a stack of hay, which is
heaped up onder the tree they're yootilizin'. When the lariat is round
his neck, an' he's disposed of the reeligious party who attempts to
turn the business into a pra'r meetin', Rattlesnake looks at the chief
of the committee an' says, "This yere bein' hanged from hay-cocks is
plumb new to me entire, an' tharfore I'm obleeged to ask whether
you-all expects me to jump off or slide?"'

"'Well,' comments Jack Moore, drawin' a deep bre