t freeze
to, an' I'm backin' my opinions with my moral support an' one month's
pay."

By-and-by's eyes began to glitter as the meaning of the words
sifted through his befuddled mind. Ride a horse--five dollars--ride a
five-dollars horse--horses ride dollars--then he straightened up and
began to speak in an incoherent jumble of Sioux and bad English. He,
the mighty rider of the Sioux; he, the bravest warrior and the greatest
hunter; could he ride a horse for five dollars? Well, he rather thought
he could. Grasping Red by the shoulder, he tacked for the door and
narrowly missed hitting the bottom step first, landing, as it happened,
in the soft dust with Red's leg around his neck. Somewhat sobered by the
jar, he stood up and apologized to the crowd for Red getting in the way,
declaring that Red was a "Heap good un," and that he didn't mean to do
it.

The outfit of the Bar-20 was, perhaps, the most famous of all from
Canada to the Rio Grande. The foreman, Buck Peters, controlled a crowd
of men (who had all the instincts of boys) that had shown no quarter
to many rustlers, and who, while always carefree and easy-going (even
fighting with great good humor and carelessness), had established the
reputation of being the most reckless gang of daredevil gun-fighters
that ever pounded leather. Crooked gaming houses, from El Paso
to Cheyenne and from Phoenix to Leavenworth, unanimously and
enthusiastically damned them from their boots to their sombreros, and
the sheriffs and marshals of many localities had received from their
hands most timely assistance--and some trouble. Wiry, indomitable,
boyish and generous, they were splendid examples of virile manhood; and,
surrounded as they were with great dangers and a unique civilization,
they should not, in justice, be judged by opinions born of the
commonplace.

They were real cowboys, which means, public opinion to the contrary
notwithstanding, that they were not lawless, nor drunken, shooting
bullies who held life cheaply, as their kin has been unjustly pictured;
but while these men were naturally peaceable they had to continually
rub elbows with men who were not. Gamblers, criminals, bullies and the
riffraff that fled from the protected East had drifted among them in
great numbers, and it was this class that caused the trouble.

The hardworking "cow-punchers" lived according to the law of the land,
and they obeyed that greatest of all laws, that of self-preservation.
Their fun