Siclone Clark was one of the two cowboys who helped Harvey Reynolds and Ed Banks save 59 at Griffin the night the coal-train ran down from Ogalalla. They were both taken into the service; Siclone, after a while, went to wiping.
When Bucks asked his name, Siclone answered, "S. Clark."
"What's your full name?" asked Bucks.
"S. Clark."
"But what does S. stand for?" persisted Bucks.
"Stands for Cyclone, I reckon; don't it?" retorted the cowboy, with some annoyance.
It was not usual in those days on the plains to press a man too closely about his name. There might be reasons why it would not be esteemed courteous.
"I reckon it do," replied Bucks, dropping into Siclone's grammar; and without a quiver he registered the new man as Siclone Clark; and his checks always read that way. The name seemed to fit; he adopted it without any objection; and, after everybody came to know him, it fitted so well that Bucks was believed to have second sight when he named the hair-brained fireman. He could get up a storm quicker than any man on the division, and, if he felt so disposed, stop one quicker.
In spite of his eccentricities, which were many, and his headstrong way of doing some things, Siclone Clark was a good engineer, and deserved a better fate than the one that befell him. Though—who can tell?—it may have been just to his liking.