you just ask him about the Creole Belle, an' if
he's the man I mean--an' he sure favors him--it'll most likely unnerve
him. Now I want to sleep."

Spider Kelley an' the doctor got back about ten that night, an' ol'
Monody was in a ragin' fever an' some out of his head, but he kept his
gun handy an' wouldn't stand for any one startin' to undress him.

"The''s somethin' worse'n that shoulder," sez the doctor, "though
that's bad enough, goodness knows. He's hurt somewhere in the spine,
an' I'll have to examine him. Take that fool gun away from him."

I put my hand on Monody's an' he loosened his hold on the gun an' took
hold of my hand, his face lightin' up contented. Then I handed the gun
to one o' the boys an' took tight hold of his right arm while the
doctor started to unbutton his shirt. Ol' Monody's eyes opened with a
jerk, an' the fever had left 'em. "Happy, Happy!" he pleaded. "You know
'at I'd give my life for ya! You won't let 'em bother me, will ya? I'm
done for, I know it; an' the' ain't nothin' to do. Happy, Happy, let me
go in peace, won't ya? Let me die like a man!"

The' wa'n't no fever in his eyes, an' he was sure earnest about it. I
knew 'at if things was changed an' I was in his place he'd give me my
way, so I sez to the doctor, "Dock, ol' Monody here is a cure-all
himself; he give me the best salve ever I see for my own shoulder, an'
when he sez it's all up with him, he ain't bluffin'. I reckon you'd
better just let him alone." I hadn't never seen this doctor before; he
was a youngish buck with sharp features an' an obstinate chin. "No,"
sez he, "it wouldn't be professional. I got to make an examination. Now
some o' you boys hold his feet an' some o' you hold his good hands
an'--"

"Some o' you go to hell!" sez I. "If ol' Monody here wants to die with
his clothes on he's sure goin' to do it or else the' 's goin' to be
consid'able more funerals on this place than we've already had. Now you
git!"

The Dock, he was the first to go, an' then the rest o' the boys filed
out.

"You're square, Happy," sez Monody, after they'd gone. "You're square,
an' I knew it the first time I looked into your eyes. If I'd fell in
with square ones at the start it would 'a' been a heap easier--a heap
easier."

Cast Steel hadn't hardly taken his eyes off Barbie since lie 'd got up
an' around again, but right after the Dock had left, in he popped.
"What's this I hear, Happy?" he sez, excited.

"I don't know, Jabez," I