ev been took sudden with a crazy spell or somethin'. He hasn't
never been jest right yet since he left off drinkin'. Wal, we run into
him comin' out of the church. We never was so dumfounded in our lives.
Gene was crazy, all right--he sure hed a spell. But it was the kind of
a spell he hed thet paralyzed us. He ran past us like a streak, an' we
follered. We couldn't ketch him. We heerd him laugh--the strangest laugh
I ever heerd! You'd thought the feller was suddenly made a king. He was
like thet feller who was tied in a bunyin'-sack an' throwed into the
sea, an' cut his way out, an' swam to the island where the treasures
was, an' stood up yellin', 'The world is mine.' Wal, when we got up to
his bunk-house he was gone. He didn't come back all day an' all night.
Frankie Slade, who has a sharp tongue, says Gene hed gone crazy for
liquor an' thet was his finish. Nels was some worried. An' I was sick.

"Wal' this mawnin' I went over to Nels's bunk. Some of the fellers was
there, all speculatin' about Gene. Then big as life Gene struts round
the corner. He wasn't the same Gene. His face was pale an' his eyes
burned like fire. He had thet old mockin', cool smile, an' somethin'
besides thet I couldn't understand. Frankie Slade up an' made a
remark--no wuss than he'd been makin' fer days--an' Gene tumbled him out
of his chair, punched him good, walked all over him. Frankie wasn't hurt
so much as he was bewildered. 'Gene,' he says, 'what the hell struck
you?' An' Gene says, kind of sweet like, 'Frankie, you may be a nice
feller when you're alone, but your talk's offensive to a gentleman.'

"After thet what was said to Gene was with a nice smile. Now, Miss
Majesty, it's beyond me what to allow for Gene's sudden change. First
off, I thought Padre Marcos had converted him. I actooly thought thet.
But I reckon it's only Gene Stewart come back--the old Gene Stewart an'
some. Thet's all I care about. I'm rememberin' how I once told you thet
Gene was the last of the cowboys. Perhaps I should hev said he's the
last of my kind of cowboys. Wal, Miss Majesty, you'll be apprecatin' of
what I meant from now on."

It was also beyond Madeline to account for Gene Stewart's antics, and,
making allowance for the old cattleman's fancy, she did not weigh his
remarks very heavily. She guessed why Stewart might have been angry at
the presence of Padre Marcos. Madeline supposed that it was rather an
unusual circumstance for a cowboy to be converted t