“Git on,” said Lew, between the puffs at his pipe.
Arizona shot a quick, disdainful glance at the powerful figure of the parson’s progeny, and went on in his own peculiar fashion fashion—
“Wal, it so happened that the records o’ the ‘U bar U’s’ kind o’ got noised abroad some, as they say in the gospel. Them coyotes as reckoned they wus smart ’lowed as even the cattle found a shortage o’ liquid by reason of an onnatural thirst on that ranch. Howsum, mebbe ther’ wus reason. Old Joe, he wus the daddy o’ the lot. Jim Marlin used to say as Joe most gener’ly used a black lead when he writ his letters; didn’t fancy wastin’ ink. Mebbe that’s kind o’ zaggerated, but I guess he wus the next thing to a fact’ry o’ blottin’ paper, sure.
“Wal, I reckon some bald-faced galoot got yappin’, leastways there wus a temperance outfit come right along an’ lay hold o’ the boss. Say, flannel-mouthed orators! I guess that feller could roll out more juicy notions on the subject o’ drink in five minutes than a high-pressure locomotive could blow off steam through a five-inch leak in ha’f a year. He wus an eddication in langwidge, sir, sech as ’ud per-suade a wall-eyed mule to do what he didn’t want, and wa’n’t goin’ to do anyways.
“I corralled the boys up in the yard, an’ the feller got good an’ goin’. He spotted Joe right off; fixed him wi’ his eye an’ focussed him dead centre, an’ talked right at him. An’ Joe wus iled—that iled he couldn’t keep a straight trail fer slippin’. Say, speakin’ metaphoric, that feller got the drop on pore Joe. He give him a dose o’ syllables in the pit o’ the stummick that made him curl, then he follered it right up wi’ a couple o’ slugs o’ his choicest, ’fore he could straighten up. Then he sort o’ picked him up an’ shook him with a power o’ langwidge, an’ sot him down like a spanked kid. Then he clouted him over both lugs with a shower o’ words wi’ capitals, clumped him over the head wi’ a bunch o’ texts, an’ thrashed him wi’ a fact’ry o’ trac’ papers. Say, I guess pore Joe wouldn’t ’a’ rec’nized the flavor o’ whisky from blue pizen when that feller had done; an’ we jest looked on, feelin’ ’bout as happy as a lot o’ old hens worritin’ to hatch out a batch o’ Easter eggs. Say, pore Joe wus weepin’ over his sins, an’ I guess we wus all ’most ready to cry. Then the feller up an’ sez, ‘Fetch out the pernicious sperrit, the nectar o’ the devil, the waters o’ the Styx, the vile filth as robs homes o’ their support, an’ drives whole races to perdition!’ an’ a lot o’ other big talk. An’, say, we fetched! Yes, sir, we fetched like a lot o’ silly, skippin’ lambs. We brought out six bottles o’ the worstest rotgut ever faked in a settlement saloon, an’ handed it over. After that I guess we wus feelin’ better. Sez we, feelin’ kind o’ mumsy over the whole racket, it ain’t right, we sez, to harbor no sperrit-soaked, liver-pickled tag of a decent citizen’s life around this layout; an’ so we took Joe Nelson to the river and diluted him. After that I ’lows we lay low. I did hear as some o’ the boys said their prayers that night, which goes to show as they wus feelin’ kind o’ thin an’ mean. Ther’ wa’n’t a feller ther’ but wus dead swore off fer a week.
“Guess it wus most the middle o’ the night when Jim Yard comes to my shack an’ fetched me out. He told me there wus a racket goin’ on in the settlement. That temperator wus down ther’ blazin’ drunk an’ shootin’ up the town. Say, I felt kind o’ hot at that. Yup, pretty sulphury an’ hot, an’ I went right out, quiet like, and fetched the boys. Them as had said their prayers wus the first to join me. Wal, we went along an’ did things with that.—Ah, guess Jake’s comin’ this way; likely he wants somethin’.”
Arizona turned abruptly to his saddle again, while all eyes looked over at the approaching foreman. Jake strode up. Arizona took no notice of him. It was his way of showing his dislike for the man. Jake permitted one glance—nor was it a friendly one—in his direction, then he went straight over to where Tresler was sitting.
“Get that mare of yours saddled, Tresler,” he said, “and ride into Forks. You’ll fetch out that skulkin’ coyote, Joe Nelson. You’ll fetch him out, savee? Maybe he’s at the saloon—sure he’s drunk, anyway. An’ if he ain’t handed over that letter to the sheriff, you’ll see to it. Say, you’d best shake him up some; don’t be too easy.”
“I’ll bring him out,” replied Tresler, quietly.
“Hah, kind o’ squeamish,” sneered Jake.