ame as any other feathered fowl. They'll get that out o'
hand with their own glory, they'll get shootin' up creation in the
name of religion by way o' pastime, and robbin' the stages an'
smugglin' liquor fer the fun o' gettin' around this blamed church an'
braggin' of it to the parson. Say, if I know anything o' the boys, in
a week they'll be shootin' craps with the parson fer his wages, an',
in a month, they'll set up tables around in the body o' the chu'ch so
they ken play 'draw' while the old man argues the shortest cut to
everlastin' glory. You ain't got the boys in this city right, miss.
Indeed, you ain't. Chu'ch? Why they got as much notion how to act
around a chu'ch as an unborn babe has of shellin' peanuts. Folks needs
eddicatin' to a chu'ch like that. Eddicatin'? An' that's a word as
ain't a cuss word, and as the boys of this yer city ain't wise to."

"It seems rather hopeless, doesn't it?" said Helen, stifling a violent
inclination to laugh outright.

Dirty O'Brien was less scrupulous. He laughed with a vicious snort.

"Hopeless?--well, say, hopeless ain't a circumstance. Guess you've
never seen a 'Jonah-man' buckin' a faro bank run by a Chinaman sharp?"

Helen shook her head while the saloonkeeper spat out his chew of
tobacco with all the violence of his outraged feelings.

"He surely is a gilt-edged winner beside it," he finally admitted
impressively, before clipping off a fresh chew from his plug with his
strong teeth.

Helen turned away, partly to hide the laugh that would no longer be
denied, and partly to watch the approach of a team of horses hauling a
load of logs. In a moment swift anger shone in her pretty eyes.

"Why!" she cried, pointing at them. "Look, Dirty! That's our team; and
Pete Clancy is driving it."

The man followed the direction in which she was pointing.

"Sure," he agreed indifferently.

"Sure? Of course it's sure," retorted Helen sharply; "but
what--what--impertinence!"

Dirty O'Brien saw nothing remarkable in the matter, and his face
displayed a waning interest.

"Don't he most gener'ly drive your team?" he inquired without
enthusiasm.

"Of course he does. But he's s'posed to be right out in the hay
sloughs--cutting. I heard Kate tell him this morning."

O'Brien's eyes twinkled, and a deep chuckle came from somewhere in the
depths of his beard.

"Ken you beat it?" he inquired, with cordial appreciation. "Do you get
his play?"

"Play?" The girl turned a pair of an