e wus simply chain lightnin', thet kid, an'
the way he handed out his dukes wus a sight fer sore eyes. I got onto
the facts sorter slow like, neither of us bein' much on the converse,
but afore we hed reached Bolton I managed to savvy the most of it. It
seems thet feller Albrecht--the big, cock-eyed cuss who played Damon,
ye recollect, gents--wus the boss of the show. He wus the Grand Moke,
an' held the spuds. Well, he an' thet one they call Lane jumped the
ore train last night, carryin' with 'em 'bout all the specie they'd
been corrallin' fer a week past, and started hot-foot fer Denver,
intendin' ter leave all them other actor people in the soup. This yere
lad hed got onter the racket somehow, an' say, he wus plumb mad; he wus
too damn mad ter talk, an' when they git thet fur gone it's 'bout time
fer the innocent spectator ter move back outen range. So he lassoed me
down at Gary's barn fer ter show him the ol' trail, an' we had one hell
of a night's ride of it. But, gents, I would n't o' missed bein' thar
fer a heap. It was a great scrape let me tell you. We never see hide
ner hair of thet Albrecht or his partner till jist afore the main-line
train pulled in goin' north. The choo-choo wus mighty nigh two hours
late, so it wus fair daylight by then, an' we got a good sight o' them
two fellers a-leggin' it toward the station from out the crick bottom,
whar they 'd been layin' low. They wus both husky-lookin' bucks, an' I
was sufficient interested by then ter offer ter sorter hold one of 'em
while the kid polished off the other. But Lord! that wan't his style,
no how, and he just politely told me ter go plumb ter hell, an' then
waltzed out alone without nary a gun in his fist. He wus purty white
round the lips, but I reckon it wus only mad, fur thar wus n't nothin'
weak about his voice, an' the way he lambasted thet thief wus a caution
ter snakes. Say, I 've heerd some considerable ornate language in my
time, but thet kid had a cinch on the dictionary all right, an' he read
them two ducks the riot act good an' plenty. Thet long-legged Lane, he
did n't have no sand, an' hung back and did n't say much, but the other
feller tried every sneakin' trick a thief knows, only he bucked up agin
a stone wall every time. Thet young feller just simply slathered him;
he called him every name I ever heerd, an' some considerable others,
an' finally, when the train was a-pullin' in, the cuss unlimbered his
wad, an' began pe