Wise Men and a Mule

by W. C. Tuttle

“I figured it was about time for you to say something, Ike,” opines Magpie.

Me and “Dirty Shirt” Jones wasn’t invited to this conference, but we’re there anyway. Buck Masterson, Wick Smith, Judge Steele, Old Testament and Magpie are the committee. Dirty said there’d likely be need of substitutes before the meeting had gone far, so we took it upon ourselves to attend.

“Three wise men won’t be hard to find,” opines Buck.

“Town’s full of ’em,” says Dirty. “Why stop at three?”

“You’ve spoke your piece, Dirty,” states the judge.

“We’ve got to have a star, ain’t we?” asks Buck.

“Yeah, we sure have,” admits Wick.

“Beyond the shadder of a doubt in my mind,” says the judge. “The star must be there, sheddin’ its effulgent rays across the desert, lightin’ up the—uh—place, as it were. It’s goin’ to be hard to get a suitable camule or camules.”

“Camule?” asks Buck. “Them humpbacked quadruples?”

“Cam-el,” corrects Magpie. “Yeah, we’ve got to have one. We’ve got to have a lot of presents and——”