e missed by a foot. I was driving them cayuses, not
him, and I told him so, too.

"'But ain't you going to take my luggage?' he asked.

"'Luggage! What luggage?' I answers, surprised-like.

"Then he pointed behind him, and blamed if he didn't have two trunks, a
gripsack and three gun cases. I didn't say a word, being too full of cuss
words to let any of 'em loose, until Frank wobbled up and asked me if
I'd forgot something. Then I shore said a few, after which I busted my
back a-hoisting his freight cars aboard, and we started out again, Frank
acting like a d----n fool.

"The cayuses raised their ears, wondering what we was taking the saloon
for, and I reckoned we would make them twenty miles in about eight hours
if nothing busted and we rustled real hard.

"Well, about every twenty minutes I had to get off and hoist some of
his furniture aboard, it being jolted off, for the prairie wasn't paved
a whole lot, and us going cross-country. Considering my back, and the
fact that he kept calling me 'My man,' and Frank's grin, I wasn't in
no frame of mind to lead a religion round-up when I got home and dumped
Davy Crockett's war-duds overboard for Jed to rustle in. I was still sore
at Jed for bringing that letter.

"Davy Crockett dusted for the house and ordered Sammy Johns to oil his
guns and put them together, after which he went off a-poking his nose into
everything in sight, and mostly everything that wasn't in sight. When he
got back to the house from his tour of inspection he found his guns just
like he'd left them, and that was in their cases. Then he ambled out to
me and registered his howl.

"'My man,' he said, 'My man, that hired man what I told to put my guns
together ain't done it!'

"'Oh, he didn't?' I said, hanging on to my cuss words, for I was some
surprised and couldn't say a whole lot.

"'No, he hasn't, and so I've come out to report him,' he said, looking mad.

"'My man!' said I, mad some myself, and looking him plumb in the eyes. 'My
man, if he had I'd shore think he was off his feed or loco. He ain't no
hired man, but he is a all-fired good cow-puncher, and I'm a heap scared
about him not filling you full of holes, you asking him to do a thing like
that! He must be real sick.'

"He didn't have no come-back to that, but just looked sort of funny, and
then he trotted off to put his guns together hisself. I hustled around
and saw that some work was done right and then went in to supper. After it