e-colt that got mixed up in a bob-wire fence. Seein' as
she was like to make the buzzards happy 'most any day, I took to
nussin' her. Me, Joe Scott, eh? And a laugh comin'. Well, the boys
joshed--mebby you hearn some of 'em call me Doc. That's why. The boys
joshed and went around like they was in a horsepital, quiet and
steppin' catty. I could write a book out of them joshin's and sell
her, if I could write her with a brandin'-iron or a rope. Anyhow, the
colt she gets well and I turns her out on the range, which ought to be
the end of the story, but it ain't. She come nickerin' after me like I
was her man, hangin' around when I showed up at the ranch jest like I
was a millionaire and she wantin' to get married. Couldn't get shet of
her. So one day I ropes her and says to myself I'll make a trick hoss
of her and sell her. The fust trick she done wasn't the one I reckoned
to learn her. She lifted me one in the jeans and I like to lost all
the teeth in my head. 'You're welcome, lady,' says I, 'for this here
'fectionate token of thanks for my nussin' and gettin' joshed to
fare-ye-well. Bein' set on learnin' her, I shortened the rope and let
her kick a few holes in the climate. When she got tired of that, I
begins workin' on her head, easy-like and talkin' kind. Fust thing I
knowed she takes a san'wich out of my shirt, the meat part bein' a
piece of my hide. Then I got riled. I lit into her with the boots,
and we had it. When I got tired of exercisin' my feet, she comes to me
rubbin' her nose ag'in' me and kind of nickerin' and lovin' up
tremendous, bein' a she-hoss. 'Now,' says I, 'I'm goin' to do the
courtin', sister.' And I sot out to learn her to shake hands. She got
most as good as a state senator at it: purfessional-like, but not real
glad to see you. Jest put on. Then I learns her to nod yes. That was
hard. Then I gets her so she would lay down and stay till I told her
to get up. 'Course it takes time and I didn't have the time reg'lar.
I feeds her every time, though. Then she took to sleepin' ag'in' the
bunk-house every night, seein' as she run loose jest like a dog. When
somebody'd get up in the mornin', there she would be with her eyes
lookin' in the winder, shinin', and her ears lookin' in, too. You see
she was waitin' for her beau to come out, which was me. She took to
followin' me on the range when I rid out, and she got fat and sizable.
The boys give up joshin' and got kind of inte