I'm good an' sick o' your fool nonsense," sez he, comin' down toward
me. I was wearin' a gun on each leg, an' I pulled 'em out an'
punctuated both his ears at one time; but I never stopped smilin'. He
grabbed an ear in each hand an' begun to swear in a foreign langwidge,
dancin' around most comical. "Won't you please get my leather for me,"
sez I, "or would you sooner have me guess off the center o' those two
shots?"

"Yes," he roared, usin' a lot o' high-power words 'at ain't needful in
repetin', "take your blame junk an' get out o' here." I nodded to the
bar mop. "Shall I get 'em, Frenchy?" sez he.

"Yes, for heaven's sake, get 'em," sez the snarley one, while some o'
the boys snickered, but not too noticeable.

Well, they was my saddle an' bridle all right, an' I thanked the bar
mop an' flung 'em in a corner. Then I went over an' sat down by Hank
Midders. "Did you get your fence-rider yet?" sez I.

"No, I ain't got him yet, but I got two days to look for him in," he
sez.

Just then who should come in but the same old Diamond Dot hand who had
beat me out of the pony. "Well, sign my name! If there ain't Happy
Hawkins!" sez he, rushin' over an' shakin' my hand, "Still in business,
Happy?" sez he.

"Nope, I've retired," sez I.

"You'd ought to have stuck around here until that tourist went home
from his vacation," sez Bill,--I reckon his name was still Bill, though
for the life o' me I can't remember it plain,--"he got the whole town
hilarious on account o' the joke we'd played on him. He was game all
right, an' he got me a job out to his uncle's, which I've held ever
since--off an' on."

"Happy?" sez Hank Midders, "Happy what?"

"Happy Hawkins," sez Bill. "Haven't you never heard o' Happy Hawkins?"

"Happy Hawkins is down in the Texas-Pan Handle," sez I, in a
matter-o'-fact voice. "Don't forget that, Bill."

"Surest thing there is," sez Bill, winkin'. "I seen him get on the
train myself."

"When will supper be ready, Frenchy?" I sez to the snarley one, who had
been puttin' some grease on his ears an' wishin' he'd had better
manners.

"In about an hour," sez he, an' I knew the' wouldn't be any more
trouble from him. He was one o' these fellers what can take a lickin'
without gettin' all broke up over it, an' he'd be just as gay about
bluffin' the next stranger as ever, an' he'd be just as dominatin' over
them what he had already bluffed.

"Well, I'm goin' out for a little stroll," sez I, "but I'll be b