If a man ain't acquainted with the
country an' the horse-thieves, an' the water-holes, his sojourn would
be discouragin' an' short.
"All of which circumlocutin' brings us to the main point which is that
_she_ wouldn't stand for no such proceedin'. As far as I can see that
settles the case. The pros an' cons that you an' me could set here an'
chew about, bein' merely incidental, irreverent, an' by way of passin'
the time."
Endicott laughed: "You are a philosopher, Tex."
"A cow-hand has got to be."
"But seriously, I could slip away without her knowing it, then the only
thing you could do would be to take her to the railway."
"Yes. Well, you try that an' you'll find out who's runnin' this
outfit. I'll trail out after you an' when I catch you, I'll just
naturally knock hell out of you, an' that's all there'll be to it. You
had the edge on me in the water but you ain't on land. An' now that's
settled to the satisfaction of all parties concerned, suppose me an'
you slip over to camp an' cook supper so we can pull out right after
sundown."
The two made their way through the timber to find Alice blowing herself
red in the face in a vain effort to coax a blaze out of a few
smouldering coals she had scraped from beneath the ashes of the fire.
"Hold on!" cried the Texan, striding toward her, "I've always
maintained that buildin' fires is a he-chore, like swearin', an'
puttin' the baby to sleep.
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