s would hev to be disturbed. This hyar varmint, gents, what is
now an unopposed candidate for a funeral pow-wow, was a little too
previous with his gun agin my younger brother. It's a case of plain
justice, gents; my brother was without weapons, and he--' pointing to
the figure on the floor, 'he knew it. Line up, gents, and give it a
name!'"

"What did they do to the stranger?" asked Wilbur eagerly, divided
between admiration of the quickness of the action and consternation at
the gravity of the result.

"They compliments him some on the celerity of his shootin', and feels a
heap relieved by Joe's perpetual absence. An' the moral o' this little
tale is that you're hittin' a fast clip for trouble when you go around
prompt and aggressive to announce your own virtoos. I'm not advancin'
any criticism as to your shinin' talents in the way of ridin', pard, but
you haven't been long enough in this here vale of tears to be what you
might call experienced."

"I've ridden a whole lot," said Wilbur, who was touchy on the point and
proud of his horsemanship, "and while I don't say that there isn't a
horse I can't ride, I can say that I've never seen one yet. I started in
to ride pretty nearly as soon as I started to walk."

"I don't want to mar your confidence none," replied the cowboy, "an' I
likes a game sport who'll bet his hand to the limit, though I generally
drops my stake on the other side. But if some mornin' you sh'd find the
ground rearin' up and hittin' you mighty sudden, don't forget that I
gave you a plain steer. Here's your cayuse."

Wilbur had been a little disappointed that the cowboy should not have
shown up as ornamentally as he had expected, not wearing goatskin
"chaps" or rattlesnake hatbands, and not even having a gorgeous
saddle-blanket on his pony, but the boy felt partly rewarded when he saw
him just put his toe in the stirrup and seem to float into the saddle.
The pony commenced dancing about in the most erratic way, but Wilbur
noted that his companion seemed entirely unaware that the horse was not
standing still, although his antics would have unseated any rider that
the boy previously had seen. He was conscious, moreover, that his climb
into his own saddle was very different from that which he had witnessed,
but he really was a good rider for a boy, and felt quite at home as soon
as they broke into the loping canter of the cow-pony.

"I understood," said Wilbur as they rode along, "that I should mee