made up my mind that I would try to overpower the ol'
man without hurtin' him, an' ol' Cast Steel was built like a grizzly. I
didn't enjoy that walk as much as some I've took. When we got close to
the figger lyin' in the trail we all walked a little crouchy. It looked
quite a little like Dick; but when we saw it wasn't nothin' but that
fool Hawthorn with a busted leg, we three looked like the reception
committee of the Foolish Society.

I hustled back an' got Hanson an' a couple o' the boys and an ol' door,
an' we fetched him home an' put him to bed an' sent for the doctor--an'
that was the worst luck that ever happened to ol' Dick. You know how a
woman is with anything hurt or sick; they're the same the world over. A
right strickly wise married man would have everything broke except his
pocket-book, an' then he'd be sure o' lots of pettin'. They allus want
to spoil a feller when he's on the flat of his back. When he's walkin'
around on his own feet all he needs to do is to express a desire, an'
they vetoe it on general principles, an' after they've talked
themselves dry they send out an' get the preacher to finish the job;
but when that same vile speciment of masculine humanity gets some of
his runnin' gear damaged, why they bed him on rose leaves, feed him on
honey, an', good or bad, they give him whatever he wants. This
particular feller wanted Barbie, an' Barbie was mighty gentle with him.

Sometimes it seems to me that the only men who can understand a woman
are the men who work a lot with the dumb creatures. Take an animal now,
wild or tame, an' it hates to confess a weakness; it'll just go on head
up an' eyes flashin' till it drops in its tracks--so will a woman. Take
the fiercest female animal the' is, an' it's all mother on the inside.
Why, they're everlastin'ly adoptin' somethin' 'at don't rightly belong
to 'em. Sometimes they go to work an' adopt a little straggler that in
a regular way is their daily food; an' it ain't no step-mother affair
neither, it 's the real thing.

The wild animals are the best to study, 'cause the tame ones have been
some spoiled by associatin' with man. Well, the wild animals spend all
their spare time dressin' up an' cleanin' their clothes, an' when it
ain't absolutely necessary they hate to get a toe wet; but when it
comes to love or duty, why fire, water, nor the fear o' man ain't goin'
to stop 'em; so again I sez 'at the man what can savvy the wild animals
can get purty nigh