The sheriff hummed over it.
"Kind o' lurid, this," he said; and at that comment Apache Kid's face became radiant in a flash.
"Sir," he said, "I am charmed to know you. You are a man of taste. I always object to the way these things are recounted."
The sheriff rolled his bright eye on Apache, misunderstanding his pleasure which, though it sounded something exaggerated, was assuredly genuine enough.
"I guess the way it's told don't alter the fact that in the main it's true. It would mean a term of years, you know."
For the first time in my knowledge of him Apache Kid's face showed that he had been hit. He gave a frown, and said:
"Yes, that's the ugly side of it; that's the reality. It must be an adventurous sort of life, the life portrayed in that cutting. I fancy that it is the adventuring, and not the money-getting, that lures anyone into it, and a man who loves adventure would naturally resent a prison cell."
The sheriff, with lowered head and blank eyes, gazed from under his brows on Apache Kid.
"I guess it's sheer laziness, sir," said he, "and the man who likes that ways of living, and follows it up, is liable to stretch hemp!"
"That would be better, I should fancy, than the prison cell," said Apache Kid. "The fellows told about there would prefer that, I should think."