"Billy Veniro heard them say, in an Arizona town one day,
That a band of Apache Indians were on the trail of death.
He heard them tell of murder done, of the men killed at Rocky Run.
'There is danger at the cow-ranch!' Veniro cried beneath his breath.
"In a ranch forty miles, in a little place that lay
In a green and shady valley, in a mighty wilderness,
Half a dozen homes were there and in one a maiden fair
Helt the heart of Billy Veniro—Billy Veniro's little Bess.
"So no wonder he grew pale, when he heard the cowboy's tale—
Of the men that he'd seen murdered the day before at Rocky Run.