The crowd knew Buck's habit of not paying his debts, and proposed to divide up his shirt and pants if he got too obvious with remarks.
"Boys," I went on, "we been letting these town citizens get too much happy and animated, throwing dirt in our face. Why, here's down east newspapers sobbing obituary notices over the poor cowboy species departed. Seems that we-all, and the mammoth, and the dodo, and the bison is numbered with the past, and our bones is used to manure the crops of the industrious farmer. Does that splash you?
"Dear departed, I appeals to you most sorrowful—ain't it time to show signs of being alive? Not being a worker of miracles, I don't aim to corrupt yo' morals, I ain't proposing to obliterate the town which provides us with our liquor and groceries, I ain't a party to acts of violence; but I do propose that we just whirl in to-night and rescue them po' kids at La Morita. Of course, in busting the calaboose we may have to shoot up a few Mexicans—but it does them good to be taken serious at times, and they'd sure hate to be ignored while we stole their captives."
Mutiny called out, "Say, now you've got yo' tail up, you ain't forgetting to talk."
And on that the boys got riotous—"Rair up some more, ole Chalkeye; let's see you paw the moon!"
"You tell the lies, we'll stick to 'em!"
"Who stole Ryan's cows, eh, Chalkeye?"
"Let the old horse-thief turn his wolf loose! Ki-yi-yeou-ou-ou!"
"Loo-loo-loo-Yip! Yow!"
"Girls," says I, "you're gettin' plenty obstreperous. Come on—let's roll our tails for old Mexico!"