ys, Danny Mains,
along ahead, carryin' money I hed to pay off hands an' my bills, an' I
wanted thet money to get in town before dark. Wal, Danny was held up.
I don't distrust the lad. There's been strange Greasers in town lately,
an' mebbe they knew about the money comin'.

"Wal, when I arrived with the cattle I was some put to it to make ends
meet. An' to-day I wasn't in no angelic humor. When I hed my business
all done I went around pokin' my nose beak an' there, tryin' to get
scent of thet money. An' I happened in at a hall we hev thet does duty
fer' jail an' hospital an' election-post an' what not. Wal, just then
it was doin' duty as a hospital. Last night was fiesta night--these
Greasers hev a fiesta every week or so--an' one Greaser who hed been bad
hurt was layin' in the hall, where he hed been fetched from the station.
Somebody hed sent off to Douglas fer a doctor, but be hedn't come yet.
I've hed some experience with gunshot wounds, an' I looked this
feller over. He wasn't shot up much, but I thought there was danger of
blood-poison-in'. Anyway, I did all I could.

"The hall was full of cowboys, ranchers, Greasers, miners, an' town
folks, along with some strangers. I was about to get started up this way
when Pat Hawe come in.

"Pat he's the sheriff. I reckon, Miss Majesty, thet sheriffs are new to
you, an' fer sake of the West I'll explain to you thet we don't hev many
of the real thing any more. Garrett, who killed Billy the Kid an' was
killed himself near a year or so ago--he was the kind of sheriff thet
helps to make a self-respectin' country. But this Pat Hawe--wal, I
reckon there's no good in me sayin' what I think of him. He come into
the hall, an' he was roarin' about things. He was goin' to arrest Danny
Mains on sight. Wal, I jest polite-like told Pat thet the money was mine
an' he needn't get riled about it. An' if I wanted to trail the thief
I reckon I could do it as well as anybody. Pat howled thet law was law,
an' he was goin' to lay down the law. Sure it 'peared to me thet Pat was
daid set to arrest the first man he could find excuse to.

"Then he cooled down a bit an' was askin' questions about the wounded
Greaser when Gene Stewart come in. Whenever Pat an' Gene come together
it reminds me of the early days back in the 'seventies. Jest naturally
everybody shut up. Fer Pat hates Gene, an' I reckon Gene ain't very
sweet on Pat. They're jest natural foes in the first place, an' then the
course of