As he paused there came a sharp, rapping sound. This appeared to be Nels knocking the ashes out of his pipe on a stump—a true indication of the passing of content from that jealous cowboy.
“It was down in the Panhandle, ’way over in the west end of thet Comanche huntin’-ground, an’ all the redskins an’ outlaws in thet country were hidin’ in the river-bottoms, an’ chasin’ some of the last buffalo herds thet hed wintered in there. I was a young buck them days, an’ purty much of a desperado, I’m thinkin’. Though of all the seventeen notches on my gun—an’ each notch meant a man killed face to face—there was only one thet I was ashamed of. Thet one was fer an express messenger who I hit on the head most unprofessional like, jest because he wouldn’t hand over a leetle package. I hed the kind of a reputashun thet made all the fellers in saloons smile an’ buy drinks.
“Well, I dropped into a place named Taylor’s Bend, an’ was peaceful standin’ to the bar when three cow-punchers come in, an’, me bein’ with my back turned, they didn’t recognize me an’ got playful. I didn’t stop drinkin’, an’ I didn’t turn square round; but when I stopped shootin’ under my arm the saloon-keeper hed to go over to the sawmill an’ fetch a heap of sawdust to cover up what was left of them three cow-punchers, after they was hauled out. You see, I was rough them days, an’ would shoot ears off an’ noses off an’ hands off; when in later days I’d jest kill a man quick, same as Wild Bill.
“News drifts into town thet night thet a gang of cut-throats hed murdered ole Bill Warren an’ carried off his gurl. I gathers up a few good gun-men, an’ we rid out an’ down the river-bottom, to an ole log cabin, where the outlaws hed a rondevoo. We rid up boldlike, an’ made a hell of a racket. Then the gang began to throw lead from the cabin, an’ we all hunted cover. Fightin’ went on all night. In the mornin’ all my outfit was killed but two, an’ they was shot up bad. We fought all day without eatin’ or drinkin’, except some whisky I hed, an’ at night I was on the job by my lonesome.
“Bein’ bunged up some myself, I laid off an’ went down to the river to wash the blood off, tie up my wounds, an’ drink a leetle. While I was down there along comes one of the cutthroats with a bucket. Instead of gettin’ water he got lead, an’ as he was about to croak he tells me a whole bunch of outlaws was headin’ in there, doo to-morrer. An’ if I wanted to rescoo the gurl I hed to be hurryin’. There was five fellers left in the cabin.
“I went back to the thicket where I hed left my hoss, an’ loaded up with two more guns an’ another belt, an’ busted a fresh box of shells. If I recollect proper, I got some cigarettes, too. Well, I mozied back to the cabin. It was a boo-tiful moonshiny night, an’ I wondered if ole Bill’s gun was as purty as I’d heerd. The grass growed long round the cabin, an’ I crawled up to the door without startin’ anythin’. Then I figgered. There was only one door in thet cabin, an’ it was black dark inside. I jest grabbed open the door an’ slipped in quick. It worked all right. They heerd me, but hedn’t been quick enough to ketch me in the light of the door. Of course there was some shots, but I ducked too quick, an’ changed my position.
“Ladies an’ gentlemen, thet there was some dool by night. An’ I wasn’t often in the place where they shot. I was most wonderful patient, an’ jest waited until one of them darned ruffians would get so nervous he’d hev to hunt me up. When mornin’ come there they was all piled up on the floor, all shot to pieces. I found the gurl. Purty! Say, she was boo-tiful. We went down to the river, where she begun to bathe my wounds. I’d collected a dozen more or so, an’ the sight of tears in her lovely eyes, an’ my blood a-stainin’ of her little hands, jest nat’rally wakened a trembly spell in my heart. I seen she was took the same way, an’ thet settled it.
“We was comin’ up from the river, an’ I hed jest straddled my hoss, with the gurl behind, when we run right into thet cutthroat gang thet was doo about then. Bein’ some handicapped, I couldn’t drop more ’n one gun-round of them, an’ then I hed to slope. The whole gang follered me, an’ some miles out chased me over a ridge right into a big herd of buffalo. Before I knowed what was what thet herd broke into a stampede, with me in the middle. Purty soon the buffalo closed in tight. I knowed I was in some peril then. But the gurl trusted me somethin’ pitiful. I seen again thet she hed fell in love with me. I could tell from the way she hugged me an’ yelled. Before long I was some put to it to keep my hoss on his feet. Far as I could see was dusty, black, bobbin’, shaggy humps. A huge cloud of dust went along over our heads. The roar of tramplin’ hoofs was turrible. My hoss weakened, went down, an’ was carried along a leetle while I slipped off with the gurl on to the backs of the buffalo.
“Ladies, I ain’t denyin’ that then Monty Price was some scairt. Fust time in my life! But the trustin’ face of thet boo-tiful gurl, as she lay in my arms an’ hugged me an’ yelled, made my spirit leap like a shootin’ star. I just began to jump from buffalo to buffalo. I must hev jumped a mile of them bobbin’ backs before I come to open places. An’ here’s where I performed the greatest stunts of my life. I hed on my big spurs, an’ I jest sit down an’ rid an’ spurred till thet pertickler buffalo I was on got near another, an’ then I’d flop over. Thusly I got to the edge of the herd, tumbled off’n the last one, an’ rescooed the gurl.
“Well, as my memory takes me back, thet was a most affectin’ walk home to the little town where she lived. But she wasn’t troo to me, an’ married another feller. I was too much a sport to kill him. But thet low-down trick rankled in my breast. Gurls is strange. I’ve never stopped wonderin’ how any gurl who has been hugged an’ kissed by one man could marry another. But matoor experience teaches me thet sich is the case.”