' where is the marshal?"

"You'll find him down the back way a couple of hundred yards; can't miss
him. He allus hangs out there when there are cayuses in town."

"Good for him! I'll chase right down an' see him; an' when I get that
piebald----!"

The bartender watched him go around the corner and shook his head sadly.
"Yes; hell of a lucky town," he snorted bitterly, listening for the riot
to begin.

The marshal still sat against the corral gate and stroked the Winchester
in beatific contemplation. He had a fine job and he was happy. Suddenly
leaning forward to look up the road, he smiled derisively and shifted
the gun. A cow-puncher was coming his way rapidly, and on foot.

"Are you the marshal of this flea of a town?" politely inquired the
newcomer.

"I am the same," replied the man with the rifle. "Anything I kin do for
you?"

"Yes; have you seen a piebald cayuse straying around loose-like, or
anybody leading one--CG being the brand?"

"I did; it was straying."

"An' which way did it go?"

"Into the town pound."

"What! Pond! What'n blazes is it doing with a pond? Couldn't it drink
without getting in? Where's the pond?"

"Right here. It's eating its fool head off. I said pound, not pond.
P-o-u-n-d; which means that it's pawned, in hock, for destroying the
vegetation of Rawhide, an' disturbing the public peace."

"Good joke on the piebald, all right; it was never locked up before,"
laughed Fisher, trying to read a sign that faced away from him at a
slight angle. "Get it out for me an' I'll disturb _its_ peace. Sorry it
put you to all that trouble," he sympathized.

"Two dollars an' four bits, an' a dollar initiation fee--it wasn't never
in the pound before. That makes three an' a half. Got the money with
you?"

"What!" yelled Fisher, emerging from his trance. "What!" he yelled
again.

"I ain't none deaf," placidly replied the marshal. "Got the money, the
three an' a half?"

"If you think yo're going to skin me outen three-fifty, one-fifty, or
one measly cent, you need some medicine, an' I'll give it to you in
pill form! You'd make a bum-looking angel, so get up an' hand over that
cayuse, _an' do it damned quick_!"

"Three-fifty, an' two bits extry for feed. It'll cost you 'bout a dollar
a day for feed. At the end of the week I'll sell that cayuse at auction
to pay its bills if you don't cough up. Got the money?"

"I've got a lead slug for you if I can borrow my gun for five minutes!"
retort