rk seelects a graceful p'sition in the door, an' ca'mly
pumps three loads at him out of her winchester. When I says she pumps
them bullets at Oscar it's to be took conserv'tive; for none of 'em
hits him, but only tosses up the dust about his flyin' feet. At the
last shot Oscar cripples down in a shiverin' heap; an' with that Texas
an' Boggs, not knowin' the extent of his injuries, rolls him onto a
blanket an' packs him to his room over at the O. K. House, so's Peets
can prospect his frame all scientific locatin' the lead.

"Thar bein' no lead, as reelated, Peets reeports final to that
effect.

"'Only,' says Peets, 'he's scared up to sech extents that if our Joan
of Arc had dusted his gaiters with so much as two more bullets he'd
have been beyond medical skill.'

"Followin' the foosilade Miss Bark sends for Enright.

"'It's this way,' she goes on, when Enright arrives. 'That shorthorn
Oscar comes lurchin' in, an' asks for nosepaint. As he stands thar,
puttin' it onder his belt--me meanwhile swabbin' off the bar--he
mentions that his paw's rich, an' his step-maw's jest died, leavin'
him an' his paw alone. Then he calls attention to the presence in camp
of that strayed sky-pilot, who preaches an' passes the hat the other
evenin' over in the wareroom of the Noo York store. It's now, havin'
got the bar tittivated to my taste, I has time to look this Oscar
person's way, an' I finds him gloatin' over me in form an' manner not
to be mistook. "Whatever be you leerin' at?" I deemands, bein' I'm in
no mood for insults. Tharupon, he cuts loose a mouthful of platitoodes
concernin' wedlock, an' about me bein' the soul of his soul. Havin'
stood it a while, an' findin' my forbearance makes him worse, I grabs
my winchester whar it's reposin' ready for eemergincies on the
dripboard, an' you knows the rest.'

"'With your free consent, Miss,' says Enright, 'I'd like to put one
query. Was you aimin' to down, or to simply skeer this Oscar?'

"'I was only skeerin' him up some,' replies Miss Bark coyly. 'W'y, if
I was reely out for his skelp, I'd have shore got it a heap. You can
pin a patch the size of a dollar on that disparin' lover's coat, an'
I'll cut it nine times in ten, offhand, at a hundred yards.'

"'Tests is not reequired,' Enright interposes, plenty hasty; 'it's
part of the organic law of this yere camp that a lady's word, even
about her age, is to be took onchallenged.'

"'Which I'm flattered,' says Miss Bark. 'Now, is th