Me and Dirty jerks our hands above our heads, and this fretful-looking hombre with the good-by forever mustache and weary eyes squints at us and says—
“You both solemnly swear to uphold the law vested in you as deputy sheriffs of Yaller Rock County, so help you Gawd?”
Me and Dirty nods and puts down our hands.
“Now,” says Magpie Simpkins, sheriff of Yaller Rock County, “I feel a danged sight better.”
We nods again, sets down beside him, and rolls smokes. After while Magpie scratches his nose and pinches out the light of his cigaret.
“What you doing here—hunting snakes?” asks Dirty.
Magpie shakes his head and digs into the dirt with his heels.
“Of course it ain’t none of our business,” says I, “but I would like to know why you inoculates us with sheriffitis without warning.”
“Sheep,” says he, soft-like. “Just sheep, Ike.”
“Which there never was nor never will be,” states Dirty. “You mean just plain sheep, don’t you, Magpie?”