deliberately he squared himself to the bar and placed his foot upon the
brass rail: "Give me some red liquor," he ordered. And when the
bartender set out the bottle and the glass the cowboy poured it full
and drank it at a gulp. He poured out another, and then a third, and a
fourth. The bartender eyed him narrowly: "Ain't you goin' it a little
strong, pardner?" he asked. The Texan stared at him as if he had not
heard, and answered nothing. A smile bent the white aproned one's lips
as he glanced into his customer's eyes still black from the blow Curt
had dealt him in the coulee.

"Them lamps of yourn was turned up too high, wasn't they?" he asked.

The cowboy nodded, thoughtfully: "Yes, that's it. They was turned up
too high--a damn sight too high for me, I reckon."

"Git bucked off?"

The blackened eyes narrowed ever so slightly: "No. A guard done that."

"A guard?"

"Yes, a guard." The Texan poured out his fifth drink. "In the pen, it
was."

"In the pen!" The bartender was itching with curiosity. "You don't
look like a jail-bird. They musta got the wrong guy?" he suggested.

"No. I killed him, all right. I shot his ears off first, an' then
plugged him between the eyes before he could draw. It was fun. I can
shoot straight as hell--an' quick! See that mouse over by the wall?"
Before the words were out of his mouth his Colt roared. The bartender
stared wide-eyed at the ragged bit of fur and blood that was plastered
against the base-board where a moment before a small mouse had been
nibbling a bit of cheese. The men at the card table paused, looked up,
and resumed their game.

"Man, that's shootin'!" he exclaimed. "Have one on me! This geezer
that you bumped off--self defence, I s'pose?"

"No. He was a bar-keep over on the Marias. He made the mistake of
takin' ondue notice of a pair of black eyes I'd got--somehow they
looked mirthful to him, an'--" The Texan paused and gazed
reproachfully toward a flick of a white apron as the loquacious one
disappeared through the back door.

A loud shouting and a rattling of wheels sounded from without. The
card game broke up, and the players slouched out the door. Through the
window the Texan watched the stage pull up at the hotel, watched the
express box swung off, and the barn-dogs change the horses; saw the
exchange of pouches at the post office; saw the stage pull out slowly
and stop before a little white cottage next door to the steepleless