ttle real noise fair puts a crimp in ya.

We was leanin' on the rail of Ches's platform, when all of a sudden we
hear the greatest jabberin' ever a human man heard. A goat an' a
Chinaman speaks the same langwidge, an' goodness only knows what Billy
Buck was a-tellin' him but the tone was insistent an' the effect was
most exhilaratin'. I had my ears stretched out to catch every
sound--an' sounds wasn't nowise scarce just then. Squeals an' groans,
an' wrastlin' an' blows, kept a feller all keyed up, an' we was bitin'
our lips to keep from laughin'--an' then it happened!

The door o' that mow flew open as though it was struck by eleven
engines, a dark form shot out, followed by two more--an' then the
devil, himself, poked his head out through that haymow window. Talk
about faces--Lord! I attended a ghost dance over in the Sioux country
oncet; but it was a Sunday-school picnic alongside the face that poked
its way out of that door.

The' was rings of fire around the eyes, nose, an' mouth, the whiskers
was one long waverin', ghastly flame, an' the horns was two others.
The' was a blue gritchety sort o' smoke curlin' up around the face, an'
my heart laid right down in its tracks an' rolled over on its back. I
only saw that face a second, but I can shut my eyes an' see it right
now. Gosh!

I ain't much superstiticus, 'cept when I'm gamblin', but of course I
know the' 's such things as ghosts an' devils an' sich, an' I don't
take no liberties with 'em. I screeched out, a "Great Scott! what's
that?" My hands shut up voluntary, both my guns went off in the air,
the rail broke, an' me an' Ches sort o' chuck-lucked to the ground. We
didn't miss any limbs on the way down, nor the guns didn't neither.
Every time they bumped a limb, they went off, an' it sounded like
Custer's last stand.

We weren't hurt none, an' scrambled to our feet in a second. The' was
an awful squawkin' goin' on under the haymow window, an' that horrible,
fire-faced devil seemed to be eatin' the heads off the Chinamen. I got
a better view of it this time, an' I see it was one o' the dragons they
worship. It made me feel a little better, 'cause I didn't see why he'd
have any grudge against a Christian. Still, I wasn't takin' no chances,
so I grabbed Ches by the arm an' headed for the kitchen--him stickin'
his heels in the ground an' callin' me coward. I thought he had lost
his mind, so I didn't pay any heed to him.

We threw ourselves against the kitchen d